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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 


Chap.]?i^3 Copyright No. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




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THE CLIFFORDS; 


OR, 


“ALMOST PERSUADED.” 


BY 

ORPHEUS EVERTS, M.D. 


yli' man advances the gods recede. 


CINCINNATI: 

THE ROBERT CLARKE COMPANY. 
1S98. 


I 2H52 


Copyright, 1898, by Orphrus 



< 'VCCCri£s RECEIVEU 



2n« -ZOPV, 

189D. 


PREFACE. 


No apolo;.^y is offered for the publication of this 
book. It is not published with the expectation 
that it will meet “a long-felt-want.” It is not a 
novel. It is not romantic. It is not humorous. 
It is neither in words or thoughts “ original.” The 
author has, in fact, drawn on so many thinkers and 
writers — antecedent and contemporary — that it 
would be impracticable to make due acknowledg- 
ment to all ; and so none are mentioned by name. 
If any one aggrieved, complains of plagiarism, he 
is requested to prove his own originality. Should 
any one discover or suspect design on the part of 
the author, to represen't Religion and Science by the 
principal characters introduced, the Cliffords, the 
author has only to regret that the* two persons 
were not more fully and worthily presented. 

College Hill, Ohio, June, 1898. 



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CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. 

In the Gallery of the U. S. Senate Chamber— Black, White, 
Yellow and Red men — In the Rotunda — Mis-co-no-me-to, 
or “Red Devil” — Pictures — A man and a woman — Puritans, 
and Puritanism — A countryman from the Wabash — Breeding 
nnd Education — Views from the Dome — Washington trans- 
formed — The air grows colder — Reflections 

CHAPTER II. 

WTiiiing for Dinner — The ordeal of eating — Tables manners — 
How a beautiful woman, and a Governor of a State, eat cabbage 
— Longfellow, the Poet, at dinner — History and Historians — • 
The Cliflbrds — An old Army Friend — Reminiscences: Gen- 
erals Grant, McClellan, Heintzleman, Kearney, Birney, and 
others 


CHAPTER III. 

A morning ride.— Dr. Cliftbrd’s enthusiasm and expectations — 
A real Republic — Fred. Douglass — Toadyism an infectious 
disease — Diflerences of opinion between Dr. Clifford and his 
Sister — Nature the Supernatural — Testimony of intuitions ; 

of the Scriptures — How gods are made — Science and Chris- 
tianity as affecting Civilization— Common belief may be com- 
mon error — Responsibility 

CHAPTER IV. 

Dreams— Spiritualism— Mental Disease— The Mind— Brains think 
— Delusions — Hallucinations — A case in Court 

CHAPTER V. 

Man’s place in Nature—” Types of Mankind ’’—Unity of mankind— 
Belief and unbelief— Chaldean account of the creation of man 

Object of creation— God, Christ, Ressurrection, Life— A 

dream 


6 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER VI. 

Guiteau — Lionizing criminals — Wilkes Booth — Moral Insanitj” — 
Heredity — Responsibility— Redemption of the elect, only — 
Religion and Science — Religious liberty — A warning 

CHAPTER VIE 

Medical Experts in the Guiteau case — Personal sketches — Trial 
of Guiteau — Miss Clifford’s report — Negro philosophy respect- 
ing the assassination of the President — Responsibility pertains 
to Society, not to individual conditions — An Irish Lunatic’s 
idea of Responsibility — ^Juries decide — My first experience as 
an Expert 


CHAPTER VIIL 

Displacement of error — Intellectual freedom — Devotion to Truth — 
Beneficence of science not limited — Evolut ion of mind in 
man — Public tnorality and private virtue of the age con- 
trasted — All religions natural — Fashion — Reflections — A nother 
dream 


CHAPTER IX. 

Idealism — Discontent — Autobiographic — Veracity unrewardvd — 
Rewarded — Tired of being rational — Mysticism — An insane 
soldier’s reason for running away from a fight — Human nature 
persistent — Organization despotic, etc 

CHAPTER X. 

Natural Processions along lines of least resistence — Supcrnalur.il- 
ism natural — Ancestral error not censurable — Hypotheses use- 
ful — Heaven and Hell — A camp-meeting experience — Brother 
Cooper will preach— Brother Cooper’s sermon — I'he right way 
and the best way — “ I am the way,” etb 

CHAPTER XI. 

Sunday before Christmas — Miss Cliftbrd and I go to church — 
Somewhat personal — Impressions and imaginations — The 
Sexton — Rector and Bishop — The Bishop’s sermon — After 
service — In Miss Cliftbrd’s carriage — Advance and repulse — 
Shock and disappointment — Sudden departure from Washing- 
ton — The end 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


CHAPTER I. 


In the Gallery of the U. S. Senate Chamber— Black, White, Yellow, 
and Red men — In the Rotunda— Mis-co-no-me-to, or “Red 
Devil” — Pictures— A man and a woman — Puritans, and Puritan- 
ism — A countryman from the Wabash — Breeding and Education — 
Views from the Dome — Washington transformed — The air grows 
colder — Reflections. 

Early in December of the year i88i — a year 
memorable for the assassination of the President 
of the United States — I found myself in the gallery 
of the Senate Chamber of the Nation’s Capitol, 
whither I had wandered, almost aimlessly, after a 
morning spent in the Library of Congress in the 
pursuit of knowledge at that time, to me, of espe- 
cial interest. Sixteen years had been numbered 
with the past since I had occupied a seat in that 
gallery before, and I felt a sense of disappointment, 
in surveying the assemblage of statesmen on the 
floor below, because of the absence of so many 
conspicuous figures so familiar to my eyes in other 
days. 

Failing to become interested in the speech of a 

( 7 ) 


8 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“ Columbian orator” of distinction, then being de- 
livered, I turned my attention to more immediate 
surroundings, and was struck by the fact that di- 
rectly in front of my position was a group of 
negroes, leaning forward and listening attentively, 
if not appreciatively. On looking closely — thinking 
of the wonderful change in political and social af- 
fairs that had taken place within my memory — I 
saw a negro occupying a seat on the floor of the 
Chamber — evidently a member of the august body 
then constituting the Senate of the United States. 
And what a change ! I said to myself. Shades of 
the mighty of the old regime ! Where now are all 
the Luciferian leaders of the rebellious hosts that 
so long resisted the inevitable — the expansion of 
human consciousness growing stronger, wider, and 
deeper — respecting the principles and practices of 
human slavery? Once so majestic, so imperious, 
even here in this hall ; none now so poor as to do 
them reverence ! Equanimity of feeling — moment- 
arily disturbed by the presence of these negroes, 
whose fathers, even some of themselves, I might 
have seen sold at auction within a mile of this same 
Capitol — having been restored by a moment’s re- 
flection, I began to consider these men anthropo- 
logically ; comparing them with men of other types 
by whom they were immediately surrounded. 

Unlike as individuals, yet alike as a group, these 
negroes presented some remarkable characteristics. 
The most conspicuous of these were color of skin, 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


9 


kinkiness of hair, smallness of skull, and promi- 
nence of facial structures. While thus engaged, I 
felt a ripple of excitement passing behind me, and 
turning, saw entering the gallery set apart for 
foreign ministers some specimens of men of still 
another race, members of the lately arrived Chinese 
embassy. As of the negroes, their distinguishing 
characteristics were color of skin and shape of 
head and face ; their skins were yellow instead of 
black, and their heads globular instead of oblong, 
with less prominent facial structures. They were 
evidently men of intelligence and culture. 

Two remarkable “types of mankind,” I said 
to myself, as, taking advantage of the momentary 
disturbance, I passed out into the broad corridor 
that surrounds the Chamber. 

Entering the Rotunda — that great feature of the 
Capitol, lying between the Senate Chamber and 
Hall of Representatives, that every body stops to 
admire or criticise — I met face to face a band of 
painted and bedizzened savages, fresh from the 
forests and prairies'of the West. Ah! I exclaimed 
thoughtfully; another race of men, distinguished 
also by peculiarity of color — the “Red man” of 
the Western Hemisphere ! When, with a low, 
guttural “How!” not unfamiliar to my ears in 
other days, the leader of the band saluted me, and 
I recognized Mis-co-no-me-to, or Red Devil, an 
old acquaintance of days when we were both much 
younger men ; of days, in fact, when I had been led 


lO 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


to think romantically of the naturalness and free- 
dom of savage life as the ideal state — having read 
Cooper’s “ Leather Stocking Tales ” when yet a 
boy, and spent some weeks experimentally in the 
land of the Dakotas. 

As I returned the salutation of the savage Sioux, 
and stopped for a moment to renew acquaintance, 
viewing him at the same time as a good specimen 
of his race, a man and a woman, evidently related, 
of unusual perfection of form and intelligence of 
expression, stopped also to gaze at these “ children 
of the forest.” The majesty of this man’s presence 
and the nobility of his face, as well as the color of 
his skin, hair, and eyes, strongly contrasting “ Red 
Devil ” in every particular worthy of admiration, 
divided at once my attention ; and I looked first at 
one and then at the other, impolitely, if not rudely, 
as I thought afterward. The woman was no less 
noticeable than the man. Both stately and graceful 
as a figure, her superb head surmounting a neck 
and bust of incomparable perfection ; skin, hair, 
and eyes colored by nature with such delicacy and 
strength as no “ master ” need ever hope to imitate. 
As I looked at her, my thought traversed the con- 
tinent, and I saw, as I remembered her, Mis-co-no- 
me-to’s dusky, dumpy, dirty mother, with stolid 
face and shoulders bent by burden-bearing ; and I 
said, inaudibly, of course : “Another type of the 
genus homo, the highest and the best — White 
men!” Can it be possible that these four kinds of 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


I I 

men, so distinctively marked, are the descendants 
of a “ common ascestor?” 

By the passing on of the picturesque savages, 
and the curious crowd following them, the Rotunda 
was left apparently deserted. In fact, I thought 
myself alone, while studying the well-drawn por- 
traits of the Signers of the Declaration, composing 
Trumbull’s great historic pictur'e of that name ; 
but, turning to look again upon a canvas that I 
remembered to have been interested in years be- 
fore — because, perhaps, of kinship by descent to 
one of the persons thereon portrayed — I discovered 
the remarkable man and woman whom I had so 
much admired while exchanging civilities — if the 
term is admissible — with Mis-co-no-me-to, standing 
in front of the picture ; and a third party — looking 
like a “well-to-do” countryman — who seemed to 
be more interested by the conversation of the man 
and woman than in the work of- art before him. 

The canvas being large and well lighted, I had 
no difficulty in obtaining a good view of the paint- 
ing without unmannerly intrusion ; but soon gave 
more attention, myself, to the colloquy to which 
the countryman was listening — distinctly audible, 
but not in the least obtrusive. The first words 
caught by my ears were : 

“ The artist succeeded admirably in subordinating 
every thing else to these important historic figures 
in the foreground : the religious, and the military, 
leaders of the expedition.” This the man said. 


12 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“ Who were they ; and what do they represent? ” 
asked the woman. “You know I am deficient in 
historic lore.” 

“The figure on his knees, praying, is the Rev. 
Mr. Brewster, pastor of the flock of emigrants 
about to sail for an unknown shore. The other, 
half kneeling, and resting firmly on his sword, is 
Captain Myles Standish, the fighting pilgrim, whose 
wisdom and courage proved of great benefit to the 
little colony in its fearful struggle for existence,” 
said the man. 

“Why don’t you say, ‘Conflict with adverse 
circumstances? ’ ” said the woman. “ ‘ Struggle for 
existence ’ smacks so much of your modern-science 
phraseology that I suggest a change. But tell me 
more. What, if any thing more than their simple 
selves, do these figures represent? ” 

“ They represent faith in God, devotion, courage, 
moral and physical, and determination that shrinks 
from no hardship or danger obstructive of high re- 
solve, however portentous,” said the man. 

“These were not the pilgrims that landed on 
Plymouth Rock, were they?” asked the woman. 
“ I thought they came over on the ‘ Mayflower! ’ 
All the ‘ blue-blood ’ of Yankeedom descended from 
the Mayflower party, I believe, from what I ’ve 
heard of it. The name of this ship seems to have 
been ‘ The Speedwell ! ’ ” 

“ These were the true ‘ Pilgrim Fathers,’ notwith- 
standing,” said the man. “ They embarked on the 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


13 

‘ Speedwell, but, the ship proving unseaworthy, 
they were transferred to the Mayflower, and landed 
at Plymouth. But the Plymouth Colony constituted 
but a fraction of the Puritan emigration that orig- 
inally peopled Massachusetts and Connecticut.” 

“Well, as I have never admired the character or 
conduct of the Puritans, or their descendants, I 
can ’t say that I am particularly interested in this 
picture,” said the woman, exhibiting indifference by 
manner as well as words. 

“ Was it the religion of the Puritans, or other 
characteristics, that determined your lack of ad- 
miration of a people who figured so conspicuously 
in English and American history?” queried the 
man, still surveying the picture. 

“The religion of any people dominates all other 
characteristics,” said the woman. “The Puritan 
religion was cant, and Puritan conduct was hy- 
pocrisy.” 

“I think myself,” said the man, “that the con- 
stitutional characteristics of a people — even of the 
numerous Christian sects — are more or less indi- 
cated by the peculiarities of their religious notions ; 
but I think you are mistaken respecting the Puri- 
tans being hypocritical. Fanatical people accept 
martyrdom cheerfully. Hypocrits do not. Nor do 
they shed their blood heroically in defense of shams. 
The Puritans may not have known as much about 
God, and Satan, as they thought they did ; but, 
that they were sincere in their pretensions, and 


14 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


courageous in maintaining them, admits of no dis- 
putation.” 

“ I don’t know how you can say the Puritans were 
sincere,” said the woman, “when you know that 
they pretended to believe in ‘ freedom of con- 
science,’ and were at the same time bigoted and 
intolerant ! Pretended to believe in the right to 
worship God, every one according to his own no- 
tion, and yet banished Baptists and hung Quakers 
for exercising the same privilege ! How can you, 
and be, yourself, sincere?” 

“ Because,” said the man, “ you are, in common 
with many other persons in this country, still in 
error respecting both Puritanism and the Puritans. 
The Puritans came to this country to escape perse- 
cution by the English Church, then in authority ; 
and to found a little state of their own, to be gov- 
erned in accordance with the will of God, with 
which they presumed to be familiar ; but not to es- 
tablish and maintain an asylum for all manner of 
dissenters, religious freaks, and fanatics ! They 
were not intolerant of other Protestant sects, if not 
interfered with, or annoyed by them. But they did 
not propose to be disturbed in the enjoyment of 
their own freedom to worship God as they thought 
best, by zealous individuals whose religious notions 
and practices were offensive to them. And they 
were right ! There was room enough in the wil- 
derness for all sects and schismatics, without dis- 
turbing each other. A dozen or more denomina- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


15 


tional religious societies in Washington worship 
God every Sabbath day, each according to its own 
notions — in which they are upheld by the constitu- 
tion and laws of the land — without encroaching 
upon each others’ rights or enjoyments. But sup- 
pose some wild-eyed prophet of a new gospel 
should insist upon preaching to your people, assem- 
bled in their own house; or some sanctimonious 
crank and apostle of a new-fangled fad respecting 
baptism, should visit from house to house, condemn- 
ing every body to eternal torment who should re- 
fuse to be baptised according to his notions ; or, 
some fanatical, half-crazed women should appear in 
your midst, stripped of outer garments, as a testi- 
mony against your practices as Christians, and de- 
nounce you as children of the devil or workers of 
iniquity; if they could not be silenced and disposed 
of in any other way, my belief is that you would 
feel like banishing or hanging them without much 
ceremony.” 

“Well,” said the woman, “ be that as it may, 
it is not probable that my respect for Puritanism 
will ever increase, or my admiration of the puritanic 
character ever become exalted ! I shall never cease 
to be thankful that no drop of Puritan blood ever 
entered the veins of a Clifford, of our branch of 
the house at least. So there ! ” 

“You forget,” said the man, “ or may have never 
recognized the fact that the influence exerted by 
Puritanism and the Puritans, in the evolution and 


i6 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


settlement of the British constitution, and all that 
has been accomplished thereby in promotion of 
human liberty and the progress of civilization, was 
of the greatest importance ! We, as a nation, are 
largely indebted to Puritanism and the Puritans 
for our freedom and the beneficent institutions under 
which we have advanced so rapidly as a people — 
the wonder of the world ! But for a Cromwell 
there would have been no Washington ! But for a 
Marston Moor, no Lexington or Bunker Hill! ” 

“ I am not so sure that either we or the world 
have profited by the sequence,” said the woman, 
as the party moved on and out of the rotunda. 

“New ideas to me!” said the countryman, ad- 
dressing me. “ I reckon that man knows what he ’s 
talking about ! But I used to think about them old 
Puritans, and their Yankee descendants, much as 
the woman seems to ! ” 

I looked at the man a moment, hesitating whether 
or not to recognize his familiarity ; but finding his 
face so kindly intelligent, and free from guile or 
vulgarity, his challenge was accepted, and I re- 
plied : “ The historic facts respecting the Puritans, 

and the part played by them in the world’s great 
drama, have been persistently falsified in the inter- 
est of an established church, and both their charac- 
ter and influence misjudged and maligned.” 

“ I reckon that must be so,” said the countryman. 
“I don’t know much about the real facts in the 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


17 

case. I was born in Indiana, down on the Wabash, 
where we got our education forty years ago from 
political stump speakers and newspaper editors, and, 
— well, if I had n’t got acquainted with New England 
soldiers during the war, and been knocked about a 
good deal since, I should be still thinking of the 
Yankees as narrow minded, bigoted, selfish, fanati- 
cal, scheming, penurious, and dishonest. But have 
you any idea why that man and woman should dif- 
fer so in opinion? They are both of the same 
stock, that is plain enough to be seen. But they 
do n’t think alike at all.” 

“ He is a man,” I said, “ and she is a woman. 
They are composed of the same elements, but dif- 
ferently arranged. He thinks, and she feels.. To 
think is to inquire ; to feel is to believe. The man’s 
intellectual speculations are based upon facts, the 
woman’s are based upon faith. If I am not mis- 
taken respecting them, they are born of the same 
parents ; but the man represents science, while the 
woman represents religion, two extremes of a gen- 
eral or continuous presentation, however unrecog- 
nized as such.” 

“ Children of the same parents are not sure to be 
alike, that ’s a fact,” said the countryman. “There 
is a good deal in education, too, as well as breeding. 
I have two sons, for instance, no more alike than 
that man and his sister are. The older one was 
born when I was poor, and grew up a hard-working 
strong man, of good common sense, but without 


i8 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


education. We ’ve got good schools in Indiana 
now, though — the best common schools in the 
United States, I reckon ! The younger son was 
born after I was able to provide for him without 
his help. Got a good education — college, university, 
law — traveled, and he is now here a member of 
Congress, and chairman of an important committee ! 
You ought to see them together! You wouldn’t 
believe they come of the same parents ! All owing 
to difference of education and habits of life.” 

“ How about the color of their skins, hair, and 
eyes?” I asked. 

“Oh, as for that,” said my interlocutor, “they 
are both white ! You can’t make a nigger nor an 
Indian out of white stock under any circumstances, 
any more than you can make white men out of 
niggers or Indians. It is n’t in Nature to do so. 
I’ve bred stock and tried a good many experiments 
in my time. You "can modify and improve stock 
by careful selection of parents, and feeding and 
training offspring through several generations, but 
you can’t make a new species by any combination 
whatever.” 

“If you had continued your experiment for a 
much longer time,” I said, “ for a thousand years, 
or a thousand centuries or so, changing climate and 
even continents, from time to time, might not much 
greater differences have been effected? — differences 
sufficient to account for the apparent varieties, if 
not species, of mankind, as I have been observing 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


19 


them to-day? If such variations from a common 
type can not be so accounted for, then at least four 
varieties must have descended from different ances- 
tors, must they not ? ” 

“Well,” said the stock-breeder, “ I never thought 
of the matter in just that way. I do n’t know how 
any animal or man was made in the first place. 
I had never thought of the world being more than 
about six thousand years old until my son told me 
that he saw portraits of niggers and Jews in the 
tombs of Egypt, painted five thousand years ago, 
that might be portraits of men whom we see on the 
streets here every day now. It seems like, if so 
little change has been effected in five thousand 
years, the other thousand would hardly be sufficient 
to account for all the variations that we are familiar 
with. I reckon there must have been more than one 
Adam ! Think so ? ” — “ Or more than six thousand 
years since the becoming of man ! ” I said, and so 
saying, bowed myself away, to enter, without pre- 
meditation, a narrow stairway leading to the dome 
of the Capitol. 

As I continued to climb that interminable stair- 
way, the questions, “whither?” “wherefore?” 
were frequently suggested, but remained unan- 
swered, until I reached the dome, and looked out 
upon a panorama of great expanse and beauty. 
Even then — lover of Nature as I have ever been — 
I felt restive and unsatisfied, although occupying 
an advantageous position, and gazing intently upon 


20 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


the scene before me, until — moved by some subtle 
influence unrecognized by the grosser senses that 
constitute common consciousness, the more readily 
apprehensible percepts of which are ultimately in- 
tegrated as memories — I turned about, and met 
the man and woman in whose personalities I had 
become, unwittingly, as it were, more than ordina- 
rily interested. Was the mystery solved ? Had I 
been drawn, unconsciously, by these persons — as 
the lesser are always attracted by the greater, 
whether in the realm of physics, or of psychics — ? 
I know not. I know only that such attractions are 
possible. That there is an operative psychic force 
imperceptible to other than the most delicate 
psychic sense, by which persons sufficiently sensi- 
tive are often involuntarily influenced — a force, 
the phenomena of which are natural and human, 
although usually ascribed to spirit influences, or 
“ some kind of electricity! ” though what is under- 
stood by the terms, “spiritual,” or “electricity,” it 
is doubtful if any one has a definite idea. “ It 
must be so,” I said to myself, as, with a slight bow, 
I stepped aside to permit the party to occupy the 
position which I vacated for their benefit ; an act of 
politeness instantly recognized ; by the man, auto- 
matically, as a matter of habit on his part ; but by 
the woman, consciously, graciously, and gracefully — 
her face radiant with beauty and condescension. I 
would have, or so thought at the moment, climbed 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


21 

those several hundred steps again, gladly, for such 
a recognition by such a person. 

“This is delightful!” said the woman, as she 
took position near the balustrade, looking toward 
the south and west. “ I like the gray and brown 
tints of nature dressed as now in winter garb. I 
do not know why so many people think they must 
go abroad, or seek our mountains, even, for scenic 
enjoyments. This is charming ! magnificent ! ” 

“ It is natural to mankind to magnify the value of 
that which is rare, or difficult of access,” said the 
man. “ But steamships and railways are so ple- 
beianizing once famous resorts of titular and 
moneyed aristocrats, intelligent people are begin- 
ning to discover unappreciated beauties in their 
home surroundings. Mountain scenery is impress- 
ive because of its sublimity and proud defiance of 
the defacing hand of man ; but would never be, to 
me — unless I should become a recluse, and wish to 
hide myself from the faces of my fellow-men — at 
all times, as satisfactory as this. And do but look 
at the city ! What a change since you and I were 
children ! Since we saw it last, indeed, together ! 
Can you realize how many years have sped since 
then ? We say. Time flies ! ’ It is we who fly, 
not time. But I can hardly make myself believe 
that this is the same old burg ! ” 

“It is not the same,” said the woman, with an 
air of sadness, or regret, instead of exultation. 
“ Nor did we ever see it before from just this stand- 


22 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


point. You know how long this dome remained 
unfinished ! ” 

“Yes, yes,” said the man; “and we, too, must 
have changed ! But only think ! how many of the 
‘ancient landmarks’ have disappeared! Yonder 
monument, when last I saw it, looked more like 
some old ruin than the magnificent memorial that 
it is of the Father of his Country ! And the old 
‘Marsh-market,’ what has become of it? You 
will have to give me a ride at an early date, that I 
may see all that has been accomplished in my ab- 
sence ! We need not be ashamed of our Nation’s 
Capitol as it now appears. Some old demiurgic 
spirit has aroused from Barbarosian somnolence, 
and renewed his labors. Washington, as con- 
trasted with its former self, might well be called 
‘ The Deformed Transformed ! ’ might it not ? ” 

“ Its outward transformation does not represent 
the entire, or even the most important, change 
that has taken place,” said the woman. “If the 
people of a state constitute the state, the inhabit- 
ants of a city must constitute the city. The 
people of Washington are not what they once 
were, not what we knew them in other and happier 
days. Socially, politically, religiously, they are 
not what they used to be.” 

“ Much improved, I shouldjudge, ’’said the man, re- 
flectively, as if communing with himself. “ More life, 
more energy, more industry, more capacity, broader 
views, deeper insight — a higher order of civilization.” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


23 


“ More bustle, more pretension, more humbug- 
gery, more corruption, more crime, more infi- 
delity, more Yankees! ” was the woman’s rapid-fire 
rejoinder, her eyes flashing either indignation or 
contempt. 

“Ah, I see I ’’ said the man, musingly. “A new 
people, a new era ! Progress, innovation, icono- 
clasm ! With what painful parturition the old 
brings forth the new I Yet such is Nature’s order 
— Nature’s economy. Were there no resistance to 
impulsion the balance of the universe could not be 
maintained.” Turning to the woman then, as if 
recovering consciousness of self, he said : “ It 

seems to be growing colder up here ; had we not 
better go below ? ” 

As the woman took the man’s proffered arm, 
and with slight, but unexpected gesture of recog- 
nition as she passed me, soon disappeared, I, too, 
felt the air grow colder, and began, also, the de- 
scent. Slowly retracing the many steps that had 
been traversed an hour before, I thought of many 
things, but more especially of the Senate Chamber, 
with its negro Senator and black visitors, and the 
many battles of intellectual giants — battles of ideas 

that I had witnessed in that hall. Battles that had 

been transferred, in time, from the realm of thought 
to material fields, drenched with human blood, many 
of which I had, likewise, witnessed : of succeeding 
evolutions, political, social and industrial: of the 
variegation of the human species — white, yellow. 


24 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


red and black : of my stock-breeding acquaintance 
from the Wabash : of Mis-co-no-me-to, and the 
Pilgrim Fathers — and, interwoven with it alj, a 
thread of consciousness of the man and woman 
who were, in some unaccountable way, drawing me 
toward them. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


25 


CHAPTER II. 


Waiting for Dinner — The ordeal of eating — Table manners — How a 
beautiful woman, and a Governor of a State, eat cabbage — Long- 
fellow, the Poet, at dinner — History and Historians — The Cliffords 
— An old Army Friend — Reminiscences: Generals Grant, Mc- 
Clellan, Heintzleman, Kearnej', Birney, and others. 

Reaching my hotel late for dinner, I was ushered 
into a small “ordinary,” and seated at a table, 
alone, to “mediate upon my reflections” indefi- 
nitely, before being served with food. I had not 
fairly entered the room, however, before becoming 
aware of the presence of those fascinating persons 
whom I had evidently followed closely from the 
Capitol. They were seated by themselves — the 
only other guests in the room — in a position, as re- 
lated to myself, enabling me to observe them 
critically, without apparent impertinence. It is 
needless to say my first impression of the physical 
perfection of these persons was fully confirmed. 
The woman was older than the man ; but to esti- 
mate her age by years, or the usual imprints of 
time upon human beings, was certainly impracti- 
cable. She may have been as old as Ahasuerus. 
She appeared to be no more than thirty-five or forty. 
If youth is essential to beauty, she had retained 
her youth wonderfully. Her face— one may de- 
scribe a coarse, a vulgar, or a weak face, so as to 


26 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


convey some idea of its form and expression. But 
there are faces, rarely met with, it is true, that 
baffle art in its attempt to portray them. Her face 
was one of that variety. Serenely beautiful in re- 
pose, it suggested possibilities of a wide range of 
expression, both intellectual and emotional. It 
has been said of Elliot, the greatest American 
portrait painter, who regretted the lost opportunity 
of portraying the greatest American statesman, 
Webster, lost because of the bibulous propensities 
of both artist and statesman, that he always re- 
fused, when not compelled by hunger, the applica- 
tions of beautiful women for portraits of themselves. 
Be this as it may, so great an artist as Elliot, while 
he might have contemplated, disparingly, the per- 
fection of this woman’s head, would have delighted 
in the massive grandeur of the man’s : so large, so 
rich in color, so expressive in all that is admirable 
in manhood, strength, courage, intelligence, cult- 
ure, sincerity, sympathy, with a touch of humor, 
entirely free from vanity or egotism, 

I did not hear what these persons said while at 
table, if they said any thing. But I noticed that 
the man did not drink wine or water with his food 
while eating, and that the woman did not disfigure 
her face while feeding. Both of which facts I re- 
garded as significant and exceptional. I remember 
now that I remembered then — what ‘ fantastic 
tricks ’ memory sometimes plays — having seen a 
very comely woman at a hotel table, in a western 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


27 


Capitol, whose expression while feeding would have 
been, to any one personally interested, a matter for 
commiseration. A naval officer, a Bostonian, sit- 
ting next to me, directed my attention to her beauty 
as something more than ordinary. “Yes,” I said, 
looking at the woman ; “ but, do you see, she is 
eating boiled cabbage with a knife ! ” 

“ So is your goverhor,” said my naval friend. I 
turned toward the governor, who was sitting at the 
head of our table, and sure enough, the first gentle- 
man of a great commonwealth was not only shovel- 
ing fodder into his capacious mouth with a case 
knife, but was pitching it in alternately with a fork ! 
Great is Democracy ! - I remembered, too, having 
seen the poet Longfellow opposite me at table in 
this same Washington hotel, many years since, pre- 
pare for himself and devour a salad. His facial 
expression at that time dissipated effectually any 
preconceived notions of the refinement or spirituality 
of poets. . . . And along this same line of mem- 

ory I recalled the first lesson in table manners that 
I had myself received when a boy. Uncouth as I 
must have been, a woman of refinement, with a 
small family, who had been stranded by adverse 
circumstances among a rural population, had taken 
notice of me and invited me frequently to dine with 
her. It was on such an occasion that she gave me 
instruction in a way so delicate as not to humiliate, 
yet never to be forgotten. “You can not always 
tell a gentleman by the clothes he may be dressed 


28 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


in,” she said, “ but you can by the way he uses his 
knife and fork. A poorly dressed man called at our 
house once and begged for something to eat. I 
placed some food before him on the table, and 
knew that he had been a gentleman the moment he 
began to eat. He never put his knife into his 
mouth under any circumstances.” 

My own food having been served, I gave due at- 
tention to physical necessities, but could not, or 
did not, refrain from mental speculations respecting 
my interesting neighbors, wondering who they were, 
from whence they came, what was his profession ? 
And was she a spinster, wife, or widow? And if a 
widow, had she — no, I knew that she was not a 
mother. If a spinster, had she ever been or had a 
lover ? — weaving, as it were, a sort of romance with 
a few conjectural facts only for material. And then 
and there I thought of how much mental activity is 
employed, if not wasted, in apparently idle specula- 
tions. And how inaccurate, if not foundationless, 
the journalistic records of current events, out of 
which history may eventually be constructed. And, 
I said to myself, “Are not they the best historians 
who, like learned naturalists reconstructing the 
skeletons of extinct animals, supply all missing 
bones from their knowledge of osteology, and re- 
quirements for a natural and harmonious struct- 
ure, write history? Such as Froude and Renan. 
Certainly, in my estimation, Froude’s Caesar, and 
Renan’s St. Paul, are more consistent, harmonious. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


29 


humanly natural ; hence, more trustworthy ac- 
counts of men and events treated of than any other 
histories ^elating to the same subjects of which I 
have any knowledge. Such historians have the 
true dramatic instinct. Would there were more 
such. Even if lied to, I prefer to be lied to enter- 
tainingly than stupidly. 

As the man and woman, now so often men- 
tioned, passed behind me in leaving the “ ordinary,” 
I heard her say : “ How is it possible for you, a 
Clifford, to entertain such plebeian notions? One 
would think” — I heard no more, but here, I thought, 
was a bone that might be articulated with an imag- 
inary fellow to some purpose. One thing was cer- 
tain — his name was “ Clifford.” Another thing was 
equally certain : the woman still wore a shell of an- 
cient aristocratic pride, not to be easily shattered. 
He was of the same family, but had been growing, 
and had broken through the family incrustation by 
irresistible expansion. They had, evidently, been 
separated for a long time ; and she was shocked 
and disappointed by the change that had been ef- 
fected in his opinions and aspirations. It is thus 
that men often grow away from wives, sisters, and 
other relatives, with consequences sometimes sad 
enough to contemplate. If it be true, as said by 
a distinguished philosopher, that “ no love can out- 
live an intellectual difference,” no wonder that dis- 
sensions spring up in many families, even after 
years of domestic harmony. Unmarried lovers, I 


30 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


presume, are more careful how they tread upon 
disputed ground ; otherwise there would be fewer 
marriages. Intellectual differences, however, are 
not the only causes of the decline, or banishment 
of love, in the marriage relation. Ignorance of, 
and indifference to, individual peculiarities and ne- 
cessities pertaining to organization on the part of 
husbands and wives, especially husbands, have more 
to answer for, as love’s murderers, than have “ in- 
tellectual” disagreements. 

Repairing to my room immediately after dinner — 
while the digestive apparatus was robbing the 
thinking organs of blood essential to their func- 
tions, and I lay stretched on a luxurious couch, 
growing more and more indifferent to the incidents 
of the day — a servant announced a caller, who 
proved to be an old army friend and companion 
whom I had not seen for years. I knew him to be 
a man of great natural ability, whose name I had 
frequently seen of late creditably mentioned in con- 
nection with both literary and scientific achieve- 
ment. I was glad to see him at the time, although 
a later visit would have pleased me more. Aroused 
from physiologic torpor, we talked of many old and 
new things, but principally of our army life, ex- 
periences of war time, great and little battles, and 
great and little generals — according to our esti- 
mates — with whom, or under whom, we had both 
served. In all of which I could but notice, as a 
psychologic fact, that he remembered some inci- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


31 


dents, memorable in character, that I had entirely 
forgotten ; and I remembered some things, equally 
memorable, that he could not have recalled without 
a reminder ; and that there were other things, with 
which we were equally familiar, that we did not re- 
member alike ; a fact worthy ^of consideration at 
all times, when making statements ourselves, or 
controverting the statements of others. He spoke 
feelingly, and admiringly still, of McClellan, our 
first ideal soldier, and asked me in what particular 
1 thought McClellan failed of being a great cap- 
tain. In reply, I asked him if he remembered a 
criticism made by the French prince, then serving 
on McClellan’s staff, when, sitting on his horse, and 
watching our siege guns bombard the air at York- 
town, in ’ 62 , he stretched his hand out toward the 
enemy’s line, and said to his son: “A leetle more 
audacitee ! a leetle more audacitee ! ” But he had 
forgotten the incident. He remembered, however, 
as I did, the fact that, on the morning of the third 
day of the battle of Gettysburg, the old Army of 
the Potomac was thrilled with a pseudo-official no- 
tification that McClellan would soon arrive with 
forty thousand Pennsylvania militia, and said : “ Not 
that the army cared any thing for the militia, but 
expected McClellan, as the ranking officer, to take 
command o*f the army.” And again, after noon of 
the same day, information was given out to the ef- 
fect: “ If the army holds its lines till four o clock, 
McClellan will be here!” Four o’clock came, the 


32 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


lines had been held, a great battle had been fought 
and won, but McClellan did not come — nor had he 
been expected by those who knew. Yet, who can 
say how much his name had to do in determining 
the result of that day’s ^combat : the pivotal battle 
of the war? 

I asked if I had told him at the time, how near 
our grand army came to retreating after that last 
day’s fight? He did not remember. I said: 
“ General Meade held a council of corps command- 
ers late that night, and said it would be in keeping 
with his orders from Washington to fall back, so as* 
to cover and protect the Capitol. That a majority 
of the council favored retreat. That it was finally 
decided, as a compromise measure, that General 
Sedgwick should reconnoiter in force the next 
morning, and if the enemy was found about to re- 
new the battle, the army would retreat. The re- 
connoisance was made, and General Lee found to 
be in full flight. So Gettysburg was a great vic- 
tory. That my informant was a corps commander, 
in whose tent I slept, or laid awake, that night. 

We both remembered how General Kearney 
rode up and down outside of his abandoned breast- 
works in front of Richmond, after our troops were 
all in motion toward the James River, in 1862 ; act- 
ing like a madman, challenging the enetny to single 
combat, and accentuating his protest against 
McClellan’s movement. And how he rode all the 
way to white oak swamp with the vizier of his cap 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


33 

looking to the rear. How he sulked for days at 
Harrison s Landing, leaving Birney in command of 
his division ; and how he cursed superior officers: 
first, for placing his division, battered as it had been 
by hard fighting, in the most exposed part of the 
line ; and then, after Birney had fortified its front, 
for making cowards of his men by placing them 
behind such works ! How his death at Chantilly, 
soon after, was the result of his own folly and ill- 
temper ; having ordered Lieutenant Briscoe to ride 
and ascertain whether troops in front were friends 
or enemies, it being too dark to see, and, if enemies, 
to fire his pistol! — sure death to Briscoe — he 
became angry at Briscoe’s delay, and rode himself, 
unattended, into the midst of a regiment of Rebels, 
and endeavoring to escape, leaned forward upon 
the neck of his black mare and was shot from be- 
hind ! 

We remember, too, how General Heintzleman 
swore — disgusted and indignant — on receipt of first 
newspapers, after reaching Harrison’s Landing, be- 
cause of fulsome falsehoods of “ war correspondents” 
respecting himself ; refusing to accept the praise 
due to others for heroic deeds, which he had not 
even witnessed ! How manly and soldierly it was 
of him ; and in what contrast with the conduct of 
some other officers of whom we had some knowledge, 
who maintained “ Literary Bureaus ” at their head- 
quarters, for no other purpose than to sing their 
praises, without reference to their merits. We re- 


34 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


membered how General Hooker ridiculed General 
Burnside, because of his modest distrust of his own 
capabilities, expressed in his letter accepting the 
appointment of Commander of the Army of the 
Potomac, saying : “ I would take command of the 

Arch-Angles of Heaven, if it were offered to me ! ” 
Characteristic ! Brave, impulsive, intelligent, a 
man of splendid presence: he — yes, he had his 
weakness ! 

I remembered, but my friend did not, an incident 
characteristic of General D. B. Birney, who, pre- 
paring to go into the fight at Fredericksburg, put 
on a new and showy uniform, just received from 
Philadelphia, and said, when I asked if he were not 
making a conspicuous mark of himself: “ If I am 
killed or taken prisoner to-day, no one will mistake 
me for a damned orderly ! ” — the allusion being to 
a current report that General Heintzelman had at 
one time escaped capture by the enemy, because of 
wearing a common soldier’s blowse, instead of a 
major-general’s uniform, in time of action. 

I remembered, also, but my friend did not, how 
General Birney incurred the lasting enmity of the 
always ungenial General George C. Meade, then 
commanding a division, late McCall’s, at the battle 
of Fredericksburg. Meade’s division of Pennsyl- 
vania volunteers — of great newspaper repute — had 
gone into action in advance of Birney’s division of 
Michigan, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania, and 
Maine ' troops, but soon came tumbling back in 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


35 


great disorder — as it had done before under similar 
circumstances at Glendale — when Meade appealed 
to Birney to help stop his men ; and Birney 
answered by saying — his thin pale lips smiling cyni- 
cally, as he ordered his division forward : — “ I 
think it will be about as much as I can do to stop 
the enemy, General ! ” The remark was made 
under great but suppressed excitement ; and Gen- 
eral Birney did not remember, after, having made 
it. But he paid dearly for the unpremeditated 
sarcasm, notwithstanding-. 

I remembered, and told my friend, something 
that he had no knowledge of before : the fact that 
General Birney had told me, when General Fitz 
John Porter was being tried for disobedience of 
General Pope’s order, that he (Birney) was at 
Porter’s headquarters at the time the celebrated 
order was received. That General Porter, after 
reading the order, handed it to him, with the re- 
mark: “ I propose to take care of my own corps as 
L think best.” 

“ Why did not General Birney testify in the 
case?” asked my friend. “ Because,” I answered, 
“ as he told me himself, he did not wish to. incur 
still further the displeasure of the ‘ West Point- 
ers,’ he having suffered enough at their hands 
already, being himself a civilian general.” 

Speaking of General Grant, my friend said : 
“ Do you remember our visit to Grant, with 
Generals John C. Robinson and Alexander Hays, 


36 THE CLIFFORDS. 

a short time after Grant took command of all the 
armies of the United States, with headquarters at 
Spottsylvania ? ” Of course I remembered the 
visit. My friend and I had never seen General 
Grant before. Robinson and Hays had been his 
classmates at West Point, but had not seen him 
since the close of the war with Mexico. We found 
the commander-in-chief, alone, in front of an old- 
fashioned Virginia farm-house, smoking a cigar. 
Robinson and Hays advanced to salute him. Hays 
being of bibulous habits, and feeling well-, reached 
his hand to Grant with this peculiar greeting.- 
“ Good God, Ulissus, who in hell would have 
thought that you ’d come to this ? We never thought 
you was very bright!” The salutation was ac- 
cepted good-naturedly, with easy, yet not undignified 
familiarity. Robinson who was a fine-fibered man, 
was much humiliated by Hays’ manner, but was 
soon relieved of all embarrassment. 

And so we chatted on and on, of men we had 

known, and incidents that were memorable to us, 

but either unknown to, or long since forgotten by, 

the unstable multitude. 

/ / 

We talked of Hancock, the “ superb,” and his 
vocabulary of expletives, said to have been remi- 
niscent of old General Harney and the Florida 
war. And the pleasure he derived from drinking, 
and treating his friends with, a superior grade of 
whisky, as he supposed, from bottles duly labeled 
“Spiritus Frumenti,” — “Squib” — not aware of the 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


37 


fact that said bottles had been emptied of original 
contents at the hospital of a certain division, and re- 
filled from the commisary’s barrel. Men who 
drink much and often, lose the delicacy of taste 
requisite to decide between good and bad whisky. 
We talked of Sedgwick the sage and of Humphreys, 
the faultless, and of many others — until my friend 
abruptly changed the subject by saying : “ By the 
way, there is a friend of mine stopping now in this 
hotel with whom I wish you to become acquainted. 
He is a rare man. I met him first as an American 
student in Berlin, traveled with him extensively, 
after, through Europe and the Orient, parting in 
England, where I took ship for home, and from 
whence he sailed as a naturalist on board an ex- 
ploring vessel for a trip around the world. His sister 
who is here with him, I do not recognize as other 
than a casual acquaintance, who does not interest 
me. Yet you may find her a very attractive per- 
son. If I remember rightly, you used to be rather 
partial to the sex ! Dr. Clifford.” I started at the 
name, instantly recognizing the identity of my 
friend’s friend, with the party whose acquaintance 
I so much desired. Nor did I need to be told that 
his sister might prove to be attractive, as I had be- 
come conscious of that fact myself — but did not in- 
terrupt my friend’s speech — “Dr. Clifford is a man 
who knows a good deal about a good many things, 
yet is neither obtrusively conceited, nor zealously 
cranky. He was born in the South, but is national 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


38 

in his patriotism, and enthusiastically American in 
feeling and sentiment.” 

“It will afford me pleasure to meet him,” I 
said, “ but tell me something more about the sister. 
I may become more interested in her than in the 
Doctor.” 

“ Well,” said my friend, “ she is a fully matured 
woman, retaining, however, all the energy, elastic- 
ity, and brilliancy of youth. Of large natural ca- 
pabilities — or possibilities, rather — her mental de- 
velopment has suffered arrest or disfigurement, like 
some savage heads do, by infantile bandaging. 
She has not outgrown the deformity of early edu- 
cation, of either a religious or political character. 
The recipient of large revenues from inherited es- 
tates, she spends her winters here in Washington, 
where she is a conspicuous personage in the social 
circle of the ‘ old regime.’ Sometimes affable, and 
sometimes imperious, in her manner, she is fond of 
admiration, but exacting in demands toward every 
one weak enough to come under the domination of 
her power. She never married, because too high- 
toned for subordination and too individual to loose 
herself in sympathetic union with another person ; 
one or the other of which conditions, subordination 
or sympathetic unity, she is intelligent enough to 
know, although she has never read George Eliot, 
is essential to happiness in the marriage relation. 
Rejecting every affirmation of modern science as 
false and wicked, she accepts as unhesitatingly the 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


39 


testimony of ancient ignorance, and the assertions 
of unknown legendaries respecting it, as infallible. 
She is religious from profound convictions — or feel- 
ings, rather — and emotionally pious when feeling is 
in a state of sufficient activity. But come! you 
must form your own opinion of them.” 

The Cliffords received my friend cordially ; at 
least the Doctor did ; and me affably, both of them. 
Miss Clifford recognized my friend’s indifference to 
her charms, and devoted herself to my entertain- 
ment in the happiest manner. I had never before 
met just such a woman. All that my friend had 
said about her was forgotten — dissipated instantly 
by her presence. I was at once disarmed of preju- 
dice. I was dattered. I was fascinated. That in- 
explicable but irresistible “psychic aura” by which 
some persons are sometimes surrounded, must have 
embraced me by its expansions and held me for 
the time helplessly '' en rapport!' My own faculties 
seemed to become exalted, and I thought — ah, me! 
the vanity of it ! — I thought that I was not alto- 
gether unentertaining to her. Dr. Clifford recog- 
nized my presence by an occasional observation, 
suggested, undoubtedly, by something my friend 
was good enough to say to him about me, and an 
hour passed swiftly by. As we were about to 
leave. Dr. Clifford invited us to dine with himself 
and sister the next day ; but my friend being other- 
wise engaged for the time, the invitation was 


40 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


changed, and I promised to ride with the Doctor 
the next morning, to inspect the city, which, the 
Doctor said, he had not seen since its regeneration 
under the magic touch of — 

“ Boss Shepard!” said my friend. 

It was late — I know not how late — that night be- 
fore consciousness, stimulated by the unusual inci- 
dents of the day — of its evening, more especially — 
yielded, with gradually subsiding activity of brain, 
to nature’s imperious demand for rest. One by 
one these incidents, like figures from a stage on 
which life’s drama was being re-enacted, disap- 
peared; until at last, when the curtain was about 
to fall, but one remained — dim, shadowy, but un- 
mistakable— Miss Clifford. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


41 


CHAPTER III. 

A morning ride — Dr. Clifford’s enthusiasm and expectations — A real 
Republic — Fred. Douglass — Toadyism an infectious disease — Dif- 
ferences of opinion between Dr. Clifford and his Sister— Nature 
vs. the Supernatural — Testimony of intuitions ; of the Scriptures — 
How gods are made — Science and Christianity as affecting Civili- 
zation — Common belief may be common error — Responsibility. 

Our morning ride was delightful. The air was 
just cold enough to make the clear sunshine genial 
and enjoyable. Dr. Clifford was an overflowing 
fountain of entertaining and useful information. 
Never before hearing him discourse on various 
topics had I realized so fully how correctable are 
all branches of knowledge. Nor had I, as now, 
recognized the limitation and shallowness of the 
knowledges of ordinary men ; of men, even, dis- 
tinguished as “more than ordinary,” but neither 
profoundly nor comprehensively learned. The ten- 
dency of our time, indeed, has been to specializa- 
tion of occupation and of qualifications. A man 
may now work in a machine shop for a lifetime, and 
yet be qualified to make but one part of an engine 
or a gun. In the professions the same tendency pre- 
vails. We have “criminal lawyers,” “insurance 
lawyers,” “patent-right lawyers,” “constitutional 
lawyers,” “corporation lawyers,” and the like; 
and in medicine every organ of the human body 


42 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


has its specialist! Division of labor maybe eco- 
nomical in mechanic arts, but specialization in the 
professions contracts rather than expands capabili- 
ties, and, in medicine, at least, opens the way for a 
good deal of imposture. 

The population of Washington City had more 
than doubled since Dr. Clifford had last surveyed it. 
Great changes had been effected within a short but 
active reconstruction period in streets and struct- 
ures, private and public. It had been transformed, 
indeed, from one of the least to one of the most 
attractive and beautiful cities of the world ; changes 
that had come within my own observation, it is 
true, but which, in the light of Dr. Clifford’s phi- 
losophy and enthusiasm, assumed a new aspect 
and significance. He seemed to foresee, as a se- 
quence of present evolutions, influenced by Amer- 
ican environments, a future Republic of great power 
and stability, in which a race of men peculiarly 
American, resulting from comminglement of many 
races, stalwart, vigorous, intelligent, universally in- 
structed according to individual capabilities, eman- 
cipated from the repressive influence of supersti- 
tion, should be developed, such as the world had 
never seen before ; a Republic in which truth, re- 
vealed by science, will be man’s guide in all the 
ways of life, rescuing him from error and relieving 
him from degrading drudgeries incident to igno- 
rance in his aforetime “ struggles for existence 
not a Platonic ideal, but a real Republic, two thou- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


43 


sand years or more in advance of the Greek phi- 
losopher’s, and as enduring as the principles ani- 
mating it. 

On our return to the hotel, Miss Clifford received 
us as such a woman only can receive a brother or 
a guest. Anticipating conditions consequent to a 
ride of several hours in the open air, on such a day, 
she had prepared for us a repast at once delicate 
and substantial, gratifying alike to one’s appetite 
for food and esthetic taste. The Doctor was still 
enthusiastic, and inclined to talk of matters seen or 
suggested while out. Miss Clifford, I thought, was 
disposed to be somewhat quizzical, at her brother’s 
expense, addressing questions evidently intended 
for him more directly to me. For example, she 
said : “I suppose you-all (the only provincialism 
that she was at any time guilty of) paid your re- 
spects to the representative of the ‘ coming race ’ — 
the ideal race of improved Americans — did you 
not ? ” 

We made no calls,” I said ; “ but to whom do 
you allude as of such honorable distinction ? I 
should be pleased to know him.” 

“Why, to Mr. Frederick Douglass, of course! 
I know of no other person of mixed blood quite so 
conspicuous as he is now,” said the Doctor’s satir- 
ically disposed sister. 

The Doctor recognized the attack upon' himself, 
and parried the thrust, without seeming to recog- 
nize its intent, by saying: 


44 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“Yes, Mr. Douglass is a remarkable man in this 
country or any-where else. I saw him in London 
some years since, where he was received with 
marks of ‘ distinguished consideration ’ by all 
classes, including royalty; and, to tell the truth 
about it, I forgot, for the time being, myself, that 
he was the son of an African mother, and had been 
himself a slave, and was really proud of him as a 
fellow-countryman ! It makes such a difference 
whether one is in London or in Washington — about 
some things.” 

“ I am not surprised by the fact,” said Miss 
Clifford, somewhat baffled by the Doctor’s manner 
of accepting her challenge. “Toadyism is an in- 
fectious disease in England, and not all Americans 
who cross the water are, to use another medical 
phrase, ‘immune.’” 

“ The disease,” said the Doctor, “ affects persons 
only who are constitutionally predisposed to it. 
American-Englishmen of pure blood, constitution- 
ally considered, are not essentially different from 
British-Englishmen. Nor do they differ greatly, in 
sentiment or conduct, under similar conditions. 
Our religions, except Mormonism, are all, for the 
most part, English. Our literature — all that which 
is of educational interest, is English. Our social and 
political sentiments — well, we profess to believe in 
social equality and individual liberty ; but our ideas of 
personal liberty and equality, of rights, at least, are 
inherited characteristics, more conspicuous at times 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


45 


in our British ancestors than now in ourselves. 
Yet we endeavor by ambitious and commendable 
effort to imitate others, whom we recognize, by 
such imitation, as superior, and constantly endeavor 
to distinguish ourselves, individually from our 
fellow-men, by — as we can not acquire titles of no- 
bility legitimately — getting rich ! wealth ranking 
next to nobility by title, in the estimation of all 
Britons, English or American. The time is com- 
ing, too, when the necessities of civilization and 
the best interests of mankind, will require and se- 
cure a sympathetic, if not political, alliance of all 
English-speaking peoples, insular and continental, 
of both hemispheres, as representatives and cham- 
pions of human liberty and progress ! ” 

Miss Clifford had not been diverted from her 
purpose, however, and turning to me again, said : 
“You have seen Mr. Douglass, I presume to say, 
also, and under circumstances less liable to pervert 
your judgment. Is he really great ? — or only a 
‘ freak ’ — an accident, as it were, construed as a 
providence. Or, are you, too, one .of that school 
of modern philosophers, who expect mankind to be 
redeemed, and paradise regained, by miscegenation 

uniting the bloods of all the Toms, Dicks and 

Harrys, of mankind, and a consequent evolution of 
a new and perfect race ? ” 

Recognizing the fact fully now, that Miss Clif- 
ford was endeavoring to satirize some of her broth- 
er’s broad and optimistic views, respecting the 


46 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


future of America, and mankind, generally, I said : 
“ I have seen Mr. Douglass, have been an inter- 
ested observer of his career, have read his biogra- 
phy, have heard him speak in public, and but 
yesterday, had a half-hour private conversation 
with him at the court-house in this city. I do not 
regard him as a great man, as Hamilton, Webster, 
Calhoun and Lincoln, perhaps, should be regarded 
among Americans, but as an extraordinary man, 
considering his parentage, and opportunities while 
young. He may be, is, great as a negro, but as a 
white man, he is not great! Nor do I believe that 
an already good race can be improved by mixture 
with an inferior race.” 

Miss Clifford listened with attention, and then 
said: “Did Mr. Douglass ever say any thing 
memorable, or original, in his speeches, or private 
conversation — any thing worthy of— of — the — ? 

“ Coming Man! ” said the Doctor. “ The antici- 
pated American of the twenty-fifth century, for in- 
stance ? You see my sister believes that mankind 
is growing steadily worse, as it has done from the 
‘beginning,’ whenever that was, and there is noth- 
ing so much to be dreaded, in her estimation, as 
the possible contamination of the blood of the 
Cliffords, by mixture with any other. If that be 
the reason why she has never married, I can not 
say, but have my suspicions.^ She has had ad- 
mirers enough to have made any other woman 
vain, I am sure.” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


47 

Whether the woman was provoked or pleased by 
her brother s badinage I could not determine. 
She looked to me as if awaiting further answer to 
her questions, and I continued : 

“ If Mr. Douglass said any thing ‘original,’ when 
I was listening to him, I was not aware of the fact. 
He said some things in a way that I had not heard 
them said by any body else ; but the words used, 
and ideas expressed, were both familiar to me at 
the time. They could not, therefore, have been 
‘original’ with him. He may have said many 
things ‘ memorable ’ by others ; but one or two 
things that were remembered by myself, or that I 
can now recall. To me, the most remarkable utter- 
ance of the man was made more so by the circum- 
stances under which it was made, than by the 
speech itself. He had received an invitation, for 
the first time, to address a public assemblage of 
citizens in the City of Washington. The society 
inviting him had been rent by dissension respecting 
the proceeding carried into effect by a small major- 
ity of its members. The distinguished pastor of 
the church in which he spoke, opened the meeting 
by reading the fifth chapter of Matthew. The 
speaker was introduced by the then Chief Justice of 
the United States. His appearance was greeted 
with enthusiasm by the large assemblage. He be- 
gan his discourse with evident embarrassment. 
But he gradually recovered self confidence, or lost 
consciousness of himself. Suddenly, in the midst 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


48 

of an argument, his manner changed, and stopping 
for a moment, looking as if above and beyond his 
audience, he said : “ My friends, the world does 

move ! . . . but it is a long and a weary way 

from the cornfield to Dr. Sunderland’s pulpit ! ” 
“Pathetic and dramatic, was it not!” said the 
Doctor. 

“ I heard him say, at another time, by way of il- 
lustration,” I said, — “ speaking of the influence of 
suffrage, if extended to the negro — having admit- 
ted the ignorance and inferiority of his people in 
their present state — ‘ If you would keep a man 
out of the mud, black his boots ! ’ ” 

“Significant!” said the Doctor. 

“And I heard him say, in that same speech — re- 
ferring to the President’s objection, communicated 
to him that day by Mr. Johnson — the danger of a 
war of races between black and white — should the 
privilege of voting be conferred upon so large a 
lately emancipated population — ‘ Why, my friends, 
the blood of both black and white races has been 
flowing in my veins for more than forty years with- 
out the slightest manifestation of hostility!’ ” 

“Profound and convincing, was it not!” said 
Miss Clifford, imitating her brother. 

“But neither Mr. Douglass, as a person, nor his 
speeches — supplemented as they were, that night, 
by the platitudes of the persuasive. General Banks,” 
I added, “convinced me of the practicability, or 
desirability, of a fictitious equality of social ele- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


49 


ments however effected — by leveling up or leveling 
down — or that a government of the people by the 
people ; or a political party of the people ; can af- 
ford to incorporate, as a source of political power, 
a large element of ignorance and brutality — of no 
matter what race. There is a limit in popular 
government beyond which an adulteration of intelli- 
gence and integrity can not safely go. The lesson 
is difficult to teach, difficult to learn, by individuals 
or governments, that ‘ too much liberty begets (the 
necessity for) restraint.’ ” 

“ Thanks ! ” said Miss Clifford. “ I am pleased to 
hear you say so. I am much relieved. I feared 
you might have been drawing inspiration at the 
same enchanted spring from which my brother 
drinks to such intoxication that I sometimes sus- 
pect ... no matter what. We live together, 
he and I, amicably, as you see. I love him because 
he is my mother’s son ; and tolerate his notions be- 
cause he is a Clifford. But I would not live with 
any other man who thinks and talks as he does — 
not a single day ! would I dear ? ” . . . saying 

which, she touched his glowing cheek with her 
beautiful hand so gracefully, and so affectionately, 
that I envied him — or would have envied any one 
but him — the tender touch of sisterly love and ad- 
miration. 

“ Fore-warned, fore-armed,” said the Doctor, 
shaking his finger at me with mock earnestness. 
“ It is well to put our friend on his guard respect- 


50 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


ing my notions and opinions. I would be, no 
doubt, a much more agreeable man, if I agreed 
with every body else, especially my sister here. 
But for myself, I should become indifferent toward, 
if not tired of, any man or woman who had not 
brain enough to differ with me on some subjects. 
Truth is brought to light by antagonisms with 
error. Great men often argue with themselves 
against their own convictions, in order to test their 
value. My sister’s opposition stimulates me to 
action, but at the same time impels me to more and 
more careful self-inspection, both before and after 
an engagement. Intellectually, she is my superior. 
We differ largely because of different estimates of 
the value of certain kinds of testimony, she being 
convinced by that which to me is worthless, while 
I am profoundly impressed by that which she re- 
gards as false and wicked, or refuses positively to 
consider. Our disagreements, in short, represent 
the great ‘ irrepressible conflict ’ of the day, that 
might be styled in legal phraseology — Nature ver- 
sus the Supernatural — my sister always represent- 
ing the defendant.” 

“A better title,” said Miss Clifford, “ would be, 
as I think — Man versus. God, or Creation without 
a Creator — a cause, the affirmative of which is, in 
my estimation, egotistic, presumptions and absurd. 
Think of it! Man without God in the world! 
Even Nature, which my brother, would have us 
substitute for God, rejects the profanation. All 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


51 


peoples, from the dawn of creation to the present 
day, savage as well as civilized, have recognized 
the necessity, as well as the fact, of God. To be 
with God, to have God with us, has been, and is, 
what my brother calls ‘an organic sentiment,’ a 
natural longing of the human heart, a universal 
aspiration of the human soul. It was breathed 
into man with the breath of life. Deprive him of 
all hope and expectation responsive to its demand, 
and he dies, spiritually, existing only as a deserted 
tenement sinking into ruin. To question the ex- 
istence, creative activity and overruling providence 
of God, it seems to me, is irrational and vain, if 
not worse, because contrary to the testimony of 
human sense, the palpable revelations of God’s 
word and works, and the highest intuitions ot 
human faculties infinitely exalted above the planes 
of sense. Only fools have said, in their hearts : 
‘ There is no God ! ’ ” 

“ My sister states accurately,” said the Doctor, 
“ and interprets correctly, the testimony upon 
which her belief is founded, as well as the needs 
and aspirations of all human beings upon the 
lower, or ordinary planes of intelligence. But she 
fails to see that man is a growing, not a fixed, 
object in Nature; that the man differs, conspicu- 
•ously, from the infant; that it is possible for 
peoples, as well as for individuals, to have grown 
up from infantile, to mature, conditions; that 
with, or by, such growth, intuitions, recognitions. 


52 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


aspirations, all change ; and old notions, however 
rational in their day, necessarily undergo great 
modification, or 'are wholly superseded by, new 
and more complex, more intelligent concepts. 
Neither does she see that the evidence of ‘ intu- 
itions ’ respecting things otherwise unproven, is 
worthless, because variable, or contradictory; her 
own intuitions respecting God, and immortality, for 
instance, being very different, as to matters of fact, 
from the intuitions of Aunt Dinah, or the Fijii isl- 
anders ; to be considered seriously, only as indica- 
tive of natural conditions from which they are 
inseparable, serving a purpose in the economy of 
human existence. Nor can she be brought to con- 
sider the fact, for a moment, that the testimony 
respecting the existence of any thing supernatural, 
presented as the revelation of works and words, is 
no more authoritative. That the so-called ‘ works 
of God,’ by which she means the Universe, testify 
only of themselves — nothing of a time, or con- 
ditions, equally unthinkable, when they were not. 
Nor that the so-called ‘ word of God ’ can not be 
infallible, because both human, and ‘ hearsay ; ’ as 
evidence, inadmissible in human courts.” 

“ You see how my brother disposes of testimony 
accepted by the wisest and best of men as con- 
vincing and unanswerable ! ” said Miss Clifford. 
“What shall I do with him ? The testimony of 
our highest intuitions, which can not be gainsaid 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


53 


by Reason, because above its range of operation, 
‘Infantile’ in sooth! The testimony of God’s 
works, the goodly heavens, look you, and all the 
wonders of creation — nothing ! giving evidence of 
their own existence, only ! and the Holy Bible, the 
sacred word of God, human and ‘hearsay,’ as evi- 
dence ! What next ! ” 

“What next!” echoed the Doctor. “Grow! 
open your eyes, expand ! That the Bible is of hu- 
man origin, and its testimony respecting the super- 
natural hearsay, only, may be known from the facts 
that its words are all human and understandable ; 
and its statements of facts and hypotheses are in 
accordance with the preceptions and notions of a 
people who compiled and transmitted it, variously 
reconstructed and added to, from age to age, down 
to the present time. That it has been translated 
into many languages, the tongues of people who 
had never heard, nor heard of, Jehovah. That it 
is quite as erroneous and inconsistent as other 
books of human construction. That the Universe 
testifies of itself, alone, of its own existence, may 
be known from the fact that we have no knowledge 
of any thing that is not, and ever was, a part of 
the Universe ; and every hypothesis, or inference, 
of any thing antecedent, or outside of the Uni- 
verse, is unmistakably human and natural. For 
example : men of primitive capabilities, and no 
knowledge of nature beyond superficial appear- 
ances, gaze with wonder, awe and admiration, at 


54 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


the stars, and in their ignorance exclaim : ‘ Who 
made them ? ’ Not knowing of any man capable 
of making stars, and naturally inferring that they 
must have been ‘ made,’ they jump to the conclu- 
sion that some being equal to the performance 
must have created them. So they imagine such a 
being by magnifying the image of a man, with cor- 
respondingly increased capability, or power; locate 
him somewhere out of sight, call him God, and so 
tell their children all about it, who-by, how and 
when, heaven and earth, and all the things therein, 
were created. Neither Chaldean shepherds, 
Egyptian star-gazers nor Greek astrologers, knew 
any more about the history of the Universe before 
or since a hypothetic ‘beginning,’ than do the un- 
tutored savages of the South Sea islands of to- 
day ! Nor is what they said about it any more 
credible or important. Quite immaterial, indeed, 
to persons who really think.” 

“ If the sanctity of antiquity, and the universal 
belief of mankind, is to be so lightly set aside, by 
‘persons who really think,’ I should like to know 
what kind of testimony is acceptable to such rarely- 
gifted beings ! ” said Miss Clifford, rather abstract- 
edly, or as if undecided what reply to make to the 
Doctor’s assault upon her positions, which she had, 
evidently, felt were unassailable. 

“You forget, my dear sister, that antiquity does 
not sanctify error, nor belief, however common, 
transform error into truth. Two hundred years 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


55 

ago, all Christendom, as well as all heathendom, 
believed in the delusion known as ‘witchcraft,’ on 
testimony as old as the human race, including the 
‘ word of God.’ Only the heathen, and exceed- 
ingly ignorant classes of civilized peoples, be- 
lieve in witchcraft now. All honest Jews and 
sincere Christians, believe that death is not a 
natural process — as inevitably and necessarily se- 
quential to birth, as night is to day — but a sort of 
‘capital punishment,’ inflicted upon mankind be- 
cause of the sin of Adam ; overlooking the fact that 
all other living beings, vegetable and animal, suffer 
the supposed ‘ punishment,’ without having partici- 
pated in the crime. No educated person now be- 
lieves that the world is flat and square, as all 
Christendom did four hundred years ago, although 
the evidence upon which belief rested remains the 
same, now as then, including Holy Writ.” So 
said the Doctor. 

“Is there no such thing, then,” I said, with a 
view to diverting the discussion into another chan- 
nel — “no such thing as absolute truth or absolute 
falsity, unrelated to conditions of human conscious- 
ness, capability, or knowledge?” 

“True and false, like hot and cold,” said the 
Doctor, “are relative terms that express only dif- 
ferent degrees of a single condition. That which 
may appear to be true under certain circumstances 
maybe recognized as false under different condi- 
tions of observation. The ignorant and the learned 


56 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


witnessing the same natural phenomenon — the ap- 
parent motion of the sun as related to the earth, 
for example — form very different opinions respect- 
ing it. The ignorant may be certain that the sun 
moves around the earth. The learned are quite as 
sure that it does not, having ample demonstration 
of the fact that the earth moves around the sun. 
We can no more form a concept of the . absolute 
than we can of the infinite.” 

“ It is all a matter of education, then,” said Miss 
Clifford, “whether God is the Devil or the Devil is 
God! This is a new phase of infidelity! If such 
is to be the effect of education upon human per- 
ceptions, let us pray to be delivered from the evil 
of it.” 

“The supernatural has always been hostile to 
the acquisition of knowledge,” said the Doctor. 
“ An effort seems to have been made soon after his 
creation — according to the legend — to prevent man 
from knowing much of any thing, and however un- 
successful, has been persistently maintained. Step 
by step, man’s intellectual advancement by the way 
of knowledge has been antagonized by supernatural- 
ism ; and all the sins and consequent sufferings of 
the race are supposed to be in consequence of his 
desire to know.” 

“And do you really think,” said Miss Clifford, 
“that mankind is better and happier because of the 
acquisition of such pretended knowledge as you 
call ‘science’ — that kind of knowledge that dis- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


57 


credits every thing’ upon which humanity has so 
long depended for present consolation and future 
happiness, and practically releases man from all 
obligations or responsibility?” 

Better’ and ‘happier’ are relative terms also,” 
said the Doctor. “ Is civilization better than bar- 
barism ? Is the civilization of to-day better than 
that of the ‘dark ages?’ Has mankind profited by 
the growth of its great affairs: agriculture, me- 
chanics, commerce, government, medicine, religion — 
all the economic appliances of civilization? Or has 
such growth only added to the sum of human wick- 
edness and misery?” 

“Are you not crediting benefits to science that 
should be ascribed to Christianity?” said Miss 
Clifford. “ Such growth, as you call it, pertains 
almost exclusively, does it not, to Christian peoples, 
but few of whom pretend to have any knowledge 
of science — people who retain their faith in God 
and the salvation of their souls through the re- 
deeming blood of His only begotten Son, our 
Lord ? Knowledge of God is the great knowledge. 
Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven ; and all other 
goods shall be added thereto. Faith has, and ever 
had, more to do with human happiness than all 
other influences combined. Faith is a fountain of 
perpetual inspiration, stimulating and refreshing. 
Science is a pool, draughts from which intoxicate 
and stupefy. Faith is a vine-clad mountain, the 
cloudless summit of which is forever luminous with 


58 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


hope and expectation. Science is a long but nar- 
row cavern, in which are found ores and petrifac- 
tions and bones of extinct animals — rayless from 
above and extending into realms of darkness, hope- 
less and abysmal. A man of faith is orchestral, 
giving forth sounds of angelic sweetness and heav- 
enly harmony. A man of science is suggestive 
only of ‘sounding brass or tinkling cymbal.’” 

A card presented at this moment called Dr. 
Clifford to the reception room, leaving his sister 
and myself for a short time alone. Miss Clifford’s 
attitude and expression changed almost instantly. 
She appeared like one from whom a burden had 
been lifted, resuming natural elasticity and ease. 
Her face was again luminous, like a full moon 
emerged from clouds into an atmosphere of singu- 
lar tenderness and transparency. If beautiful be- 
fore, what was she now? As if sure of my appro- 
bation and sympathy, she assumed an attitude 
toward me of ease and confidence. “My brother,” 
she said, “is a new revelation to me every day. 
We had been separated so long, and he is so 
changed! Intellectually he is a stranger to me. 
He constantly surprises me with propositions, to 
consider which I am disinclined and unaccustomed. 
And I am sometimes embarrassed by, and some- 
times indignant at, his affirmations and assertions. 
But he is my brother, and I love him all the more 
for the peril that I see him in. Besides — ” 

But before she had time to complete the sentence 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


59 


the Doctor re-entered the room, and I took advan- 
tage of the general interruption of conversation to 
excuse myself and retire. 

“What is Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba? ” I 
said, spontaneously, as I entered the seclusion and 
silence of my own room, where I walked to and 
fro restively ; meditating and discussing with my- 
self questions involved in the great case under con- 
sideration — which, although not altogether new to 
me, had been assuming an attitude of importance 
within the last few days, that would not suffer itself 
to be pushed aside or treated with indifference. 
Gazing now, for a time, without conscious intention, 
into the glowing grate ; and now from a window 
opposite upon the western sky, from whence the 
sinking sun was throwing parting salutations ; I 
found, at length, by closer and still closer introspec- 
tion that the question being debated was under- 
going a peculiar transformation ; changing from 
“ Man versus God,” or “Nature versus the Super- 
natural,” to “Clifford versus Clifford,” with Miss 
Clifford as the defendant ! Nor could I determine 
for which party to declare myself. How much, 
after all, arguments, conclusions, and opinions are 
influenced by personal considerations! I respected 
and admired Dr. Clifford. I had never seen a man 
who, as I thought, knew so much. I had equal 
confidence in his wisdom and integrity. I felt that 
to become a disciple of such a man would be a 


6o 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


worthy bestowal of such gifts as I possessed, intel- 
lectual or other. But, if I respected and admired 
the Doctor, what shall I say regarding my feelings 
toward his lovely and imposing sister? Was not 
my feeling toward her something other, or more 
than respect or admiration ? Something more sub- 
tle and persuasive — effecting a sense of subordina- 
tion and devotion without humiliation — by which 
all other senses were tempered or intensified ? I 
was conscious that something had passed between 
us — from her to me, at least — an influence by which 
I was at once flattered, exalted and drawn toward 
her. What was she? Was she human, divine, or 
an enchantress in the form of a beautiful and intel- 
lectual woman ? 

Had we both been younger, or had I not long 
since squandered a rich heritage of love in vain pur- 
suit of happiness, and ceased to contemplate a pos- 
sible replenishment from any source, this mysteri- 
ous influence might possibly have been recognized 
as the esoteric effluence of an “ elective affinity.” 
As it was, not a suggestion of love’s sorcery stirred 
in my veins. Not a flurry of love’s breath rippled 
my imagination. Weary and still restless, I went 
to bed, to sleep and to dream ! One dream, 
only, of that night’s many, still lives in memory. 
I dreamed that I was in the “ spirit world.” That 
I was being conducted by a spirit guide. That 
after some unimportant incidents we came to an 
immense tower, consisting of many stories, each 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


6l 

presenting a variety of architecture, giving the 
whole a peculiar yet harmonious appearance, seen 
from the position that we then occupied, in the 
light that seemed to shine directly down upon it. It 
was inhabited, and the guide asked me if I wished 
to look within? We entered the lower story by 
descending many steps. The interior was dark and 
gloomy. All light perceptible seemed to emanate 
from the ground, and the materials from which the 
walls were constructed. As 'my eyes became ac- 
customed to the gloom I saw that the story was in- 
habited : full of men, mostly of middle age; many 
bald ; some quite gray. They looked like men of 
more than ordinary intelligence and character; but 
were unoccupied and apparently stupefied. Some 
of them, I discovered, had been known to me else- 
where ; but no one seemed to recognize me. I 
heard some sighs and groans, but saw no smiles 
and heard no laughter. As we passed upward, 
from floor to floor, I noticed that each successive 
story was higher and lighter than the one imme- 
diately beneath ; and that the light of the upper- 
most story was too brilliant for my earthly eyes to 
look long or steadily upon. There was a noticable 
difference, too, in the populations of these different 
stories. The uppermost was occupied by women, 
only, as the lowermost was by men. The inhabit- 
ants of all intermediate stories were mixed — men 
and women — with now and then a quite youthful 
person. They all appeared to be variously occu- 


62 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


pied, social, and contented ; if not all, alike, su- 
premely happy. Many of them, to my surprise, 
recognized me, and were cordial in their salutations. 
I had been with more than one of them in their 
earthly toil, and they had not forgotten me. The 
women in the uppermost story were constantly en- 
gaged in expressing their enjoyment. They seemed 
to be in a state of permanent ecstasy. Their gar- 
ments were pure white, and — as were their bodies, 
also, — luminous and translucent ! 

What is this structure, and who are these people ? 
I asked. 

“ This is the Tower of Faith,” said the guide. 
“ Its many stories represent the degrees of faith 
attained by their inhabitants while in the natural 
world. The women at the top were all ‘ fair saints.' 
The men whom you saw below were all agnostics.” 


I awoke. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


63 


CHAPTER IV. 

Dreams— Spiritualism— Mental Disease— The Mind— Brains think— 
Delusions — Hallucinations — A case in Court, 

“ Do you believe in dreams? ” I said, addressing 
Miss Clifford, sitting opposite me, at the breakfast 
table, the next morning after the occurrences re- 
lated in the foregoing chapter. 

“ Of course I do ! ” said Miss Clifford. “ Dreams 
are always interesting as phenomena, and often 
significant, if rightly understood. Have you been 
dreaming ? Tell us about it? ” 

“I have been something of a dreamer all my 
life,” I said, evading the direct question, “but have 
never regarded my dreams as worthy of an effort 
by way of interpretation. Some of them, though, 
have been quite memorable.” 

“Have you never dreamed of occurrences that 
you found after, took place just as dreamed?” 
queried Miss Clifford. 

“ Nothing of the kind that I can now recall ! ” I 
said. “My dreams have been, always, either too 
superficial or too profound for interpretation, with- 
out some Joseph or a Daniel to interpret them. I, 
at least, have never drawn any inferences from such 
phenomena, other than of a physiological charac- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


64 

ter. Nor have such inferences proved to be very 
satisfactory.” 

“ O, you men are all getting to be so physiolog- 
ical and pyschological ! — I don’t know what you-all 
are coming to,” said Miss Clifford. “You over- 
look so much in life, that it is not only wonderful, 
but contributive, in the highest degree, to human 
happiness, if properly considered. What better 
evidence, for example, of spirit, or continued ex- 
istence, than the appearance of departed friends in 
dreams ? And how desirable the evidence ! How 
satisfying to every aspiration is faith thus verified ! 
How weary, else, the soul’s sojourn ! How desolate 
its dwelling-place ! ” 

“Yes,” said the Doctor, “dreams are the best, 
if not the only, evidence of spirit existence. The 
only trouble with it is, it proves too much. I 
dreamed last night, and thought that I saw our 
father, in full uniform on his horse, just as I saw 
him last, when he rode away to the front to join his 
command. And I could have almost believed the 
apparition objective, and not a hallucination of con- 
sciousness, had I not known that the horse and his 
accouterments were of the same impalpable stuff 
that he was made of. If it was my father’s spirit 
that I saw, then saddles, swords, rocks, trees and 
roads, all have their immortal counterparts, as 
spiritual, or ghostly, as have men.” 

“You may have noticed, also,” I said, “what 
sudden transformations objects seen in dreams 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


65 

sometimes undergo. I remember having dreamed 
of hunting in the wood, and that I came unexpect- 
edly upon a ferocious-looking black dog, crouching, 
ready to spring upon me; that I lost no time in 
sending a bullet into his brain, and killed — my 
favorite brother. If the spirit of my brother, or of 
a dog — do spirits have brains ? — and may they be 
dispatched by gunshots ? ” 

“Dreams,” said Miss Clifford, “are sometimes 
only representative, spiritual allegories, sent for 
our instruction.” 

“ May I ask you to interpret that dream, or 
spiritual allegory, for me,” I said. “ I know of no 
one in whose exposition of such a matter I should 
have greater confidence.” 

“ It is quite evident to me,” said Miss Clifford, 
that your dream was intended to reprove you for 
indulging the savage and murderous propensity to 
kill, which all hunters manifest, by showing you 
that even in killing a dog, you are taking the life 
of a brother. Did you not so construe the lesson, 
yourself?” 

“ Not consciously, at the time, perhaps,” I said, 
“ but I have long since ceased to kill as a matter of 
pleasure, recognizing the hunting propensity as 
reminiscent of ancestral savagery. Do you suppose 
that dream could have had any thing to do with my 
reformation, and I not know it? ” 

“There is nothing more probable,” said Miss 
Clifford. “ But few persons realize what receptive 


66 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


creatures we all are, nor from what sources we re- 
ceive suggestions and inspiration. And the tend- 
ency of our time is to still further close our eyes to 
the perception of spiritual truths or intuitions, by 
cultivating the natural senses — or science, which is 
the same thing.” 

“ Why not say ‘ facts,’ ‘ spiritual facts,’ if facts 
there be of that particular kind,” said Dr. Clifford. 
“ Science deals with facts of all kinds, and would 
welcome for investigation spiritual facts as enthusi- 
astically as it does any other.” 

“ Spiritual facts,” said Miss Clifford, “ can be ap- 
preciated only by spiritual senses, the existence of 
which is denied by science. Yet there are, so 
please you, sir, both spiritual facts and spiritual 
senses.” 

“Such as — for example?” said the Doctor, in- 
quiringly. 

“ Such as the capability of knowing that we ex- 
ist — the fact of self-consciousness — our recognition 
of a supreme spiritual Being, and the immortality 
of our own souls.” 

“Ah! I see!” said the Doctor. “But are these 
facts as stated truly ‘ spiritual ?’ Are not all mani- 
festations of consciousness natural phenomena, in- 
separable from the existence and activity of organ- 
ized matter? Consciousness of self, it is true, is 
of greater complexity, as a manifestation of a com- 
mon capability, than is the consciousness of animals 
whose organs of consciousness are less complex 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


67 


than man’s. But the difference is a difference only 
of degree. There is no evidence to justify any 
other conclusion.” 

“You forget, my dear brother, that your percep- 
tion of that which you call ‘evidence’ is limited to 
a narrow range of strictly sensuous and inelastic 
facts, while mine embraces a wide range of super- 
sensuous yet spiritually palpable and impressive 
facts, equally incontrovertible — testimony never se- 
riously questioned before the advent of modern 
science and infidelity.” 

“ Science does not look backward for wisdom, 
nor to ignorance for instruction,” said the Doctor. 
“ We differ in our perceptions of every thing, nec- 
essarily, as we differ fundamentally, respecting the 
constitution of the universe. As I see it, the uni- 
verse is a unit— infinite, hence embracing whatever 
is ; harmonious, hence indivisible ; without begin- 
ning and without end, hence uncreated and eternal. 
As you think of it, the universe consists of material 
bodies — worlds and their inhabitants — which you 
call Nature, and immaterial bodies (however un- 
thinkable), including a Supreme Being and all 
manner of spiritual entities — devils, angels, and 
human souls— which you call supernatural ; that 
which is natural being perishable, the supernatural 
only being immortal. Which is the more rational 
theory? We do not disagree respecting the phe- 
nomena of the universe, but as to its constitution 
only.” 


68 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“ Rational and irrational, as you said of true and 
false, may be relative terms,” said Miss Clifford. 
“ That which seems to me rational may appear to 
you absurd. You say the universe is self-cre- 
ated—” 

“ Uncreated, not self-created,” said the Doctor. 

“Well, uncreated, then,” said Miss Clifford. 
“Yet I can not comprehend rationally the fact of 
any thing coming into being without a cause. A 
creature without a creator ! I can not think of such 
a thing.” 

“ Not even a God?” suggested Dr. Clifford. 

The woman was either embarrassed by the 
question or offended by her brother’s irreverent 
expression. . She said, however, after a little hesi- 
tation : 

“The materialism of your affirmations and sug- 
gestions is to me incomprehensible, as coming from 
a person of your capability and early education. If 
your idea of the constitution of the universe is 
correct, admitting that matter is uncreated, how 
are we to. account for the phenomena of life — living 
beings, and the culminating if not final achieve- 
ment of creative intelligence and power — a human, 

‘ living soul?’ ” 

“ The phenomena of life ! ” exclaimed the Doctor. 
“All matter is alive ! It is full of energy. It is 
always in motion. It is fully qualified for the per- 
formance of all uses — the manifestation of all phe- 
nomena — which we are capable of observing ! An 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


69 


acorn falls from a tree and is altogether material. 
There is, as a part of it, a special speck of matter, 
that, under favorable conditions of warmth and 
moisture, begins to grow — manifesting only another 
mode of motion — appropriates first, all the rest of 
the acorn as food ; reaches its roots down into 
the ground, and its stem, with leaves, up into the 
air and light and so appropriates food from its en- 
vironments, and in time becomes an umbrageous 
oak! An egg is dropped into a nest. It contains, also, 
a parental germ — material as the rest. Under favor- 
able circumstances of incubation, that preternal speck 
of matter will also begin to grow. Will appropriate 
all the rest of the egg as food and soon become a 
chick. Will break the shell and step forth, to feed 
on whatever it can find nutritious, and soon ma- 
ture a full fledged bird. A bird, it may be, of a 
good deal of intelligence. The ‘becoming’ of a 
man is in no respect different. He is, by far, more 
intelligent than the bird — as the bird is more intel- 
ligent than the tree — but only by degrees of the 
same kind of capability. One man may be greatly 
superior, intellectually superior, to another; and 
a human idiot may be less intellectual than a 
bird. What is to be gained by improvising a hypo- 
thetical being, of no matter what form of character, 
for the accomplishment of that which we see the 
material universe every-where accomplishing by its 
own sufficiency ? ” 

“What do we gain,” said Miss Clifford. “We 


70 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


gain, if nothing more, a Heavenly Father, an om- 
nipotent Friend ! An ideal Being knowing our in- 
firmities and needs, and extending toward us com- 
passion, sympathy and support. Besides, we gain 
assurance of the spirituality of our own constitutions, 
and the promise of immortality in another and a 
better world ! ” 

“ In other words,” said the Doctor, “a hypotheti- 
cal being, responsive to some of the needs of human 
ignorance ! ’Tis well ! With that view of the sub- 
ject I have no contention. It does not disturb in 
any way, inferences of science respecting the 
constitution or powers of the universe ; and is sub- 
stanceless, in fact, as the ‘ stuff that dreams are 
made of,’ however attenuate that may be. Human 
nature is prone to self deception ; and may have 
profited thereby. But such deception does not im- 
ply spiritual or supernatural influences ; being as it 
is a strictly natural precession.” 

“ Have you ever considered the phenomena of 
modern spirit performances, physical and psy- 
chic?” I said (thinking to relieve Miss Clifford 
from the stress of more serious discussion, that I 
knew was painful to her under the circumstances). 
“ Phenomena really not new nor strange, however 
modified — by which thousands of men and women, 
especially women, — are being convinced or con- 
firmed in former doubtful conviction of the spirit- 
ual constitution of man and the continuous life 
of the human soul.” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


71 


“ Not by personal observation,” said the Doctor. 
“But by reports of able investigators, in whose abil- 
ity and integrity I have full conhdence. There is 
no evidence that such phenomena emanate from 
spirits — entities that once inhabited human bodies ! 
Is there any? ” 

“ Evidence enough,” I said, “ for those who are 
sufficiently credulous ; or anxious to believe and in- 
competent to investigate, or estimate the value of 
facts perceived. From my own observation and 
experience, I think it more remarkable that more 
persons do not seek such proof of continued exist- 
ence than that so many do.” 

“ It is not, or should not be, wonderful to one who 
is qualified to think and is familiar with ‘ human 
nature ’ in all the varied stages of human develop- 
ment ; that mankind has been so influenced by testi- 
mony so superficially false, often transparently 
fraudulent, as is offered by the phenomena of spirit- 
rapping, slate-writing, trance-speaking, materializa- 
tion, and the like, as well as of omens, oracles, mira- 
cles, and dreams. The mystery of it all resides 
in the ignorance and credulity of undeveloped man- 
hood, and not in such phenomena themselves.” 

“Have you ever witnessed, personally, any of 
the so-called spirit manifestations?” queried Miss 
Clifford, addressing me. 

“ I have seen all that is to be seen, I think, of 
that sort of thing, from the Rochester-knocking of 
mid-century, to the fin-de-sicle fads of trumpet- 


72 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


Speaking, slate-writing and materialization of spirit 
forms capable of recognition and conversation with 
their still embodied friends.’’ 

“And what do you think of it, if I may presume 
to inquire?” said Miss Clifford, as if doubtful what 
the answer might be. 

“ I have no hesitation in answering,” I said, 
“ feeling as I do, well qualified to do so. I think 
that by far the greater part of commercial spirit 
manifestation, such as is offered by professional 
mediums for pay, including all trumpet communica- 
tions, and pretended materializations of spirit forms 
or other objects, are fraudulent, sheer imposture. 
I believe, at the same time, that there are abnormal 
psychic phenomena, that are free from suspicion of 
fraud and well calculated to convince ordinary 
seekers for confirmation of their hopes of immor- 
tality, or other consolation, that they are ‘spiritual,’ 
that do not prove to persons capable of judg- 
ing of such matters, that other than present living 
human beings have any thing to do with them. 
Consisting for the most part of what purport to be 
messages or direct communications from departed 
friends, recipients are sometimes startled by their 
character, thinking it impossible that other than the 
ghostly visitant announced, or called for, could have 
thus addressed them. But taking such communi- 
cations all together, they are no more accurate, 
comprehensive or instructive than the information 
given by ordinary fortune-tellers or professional 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


73 


clairvoyants. The truly mediumistic condition of 
brain essential to the manifestation of such ab- 
normal psychic phenomena, is, I believe, self- 
induceable, and is, as yet, quite inexplicable.” 

I have never respected modern spiritualism 
as a form of religious faith, nor recognized the 
pretensions of the sect in any way. They are by 
nature unbelievers, seeking for a sign. Nor have I 
been disposed to recognize them socially,” said 
Miss Clifford. 

“ Why not ? ” said the Doctor, “ they believe as 
you do, respecting the constitution of man, and 
offer more convincing testimony of the existence of 
living human spirits than you can, otherwise, offer. 
Why reject their pretensions ? ” 

“ Because. I believe, that their works are of the 
Devil, and not of God,” said Miss Clifford. 

“ Or some kind of electricity, why do n’t you 
say ?” added the Doctor, laughingly. “May not 
dreams, also, be instigated by the Devil? He is 
not supposed to omit any method of leading men 
into error, is he? Before accepting the testimony 
of dreams in important matters, it would be well to 
inquire, how, for what purpose, and by whom, in- 
stigated, would it not?” 

“ I do not know of any matter of great impor- 
tance resting upon dreams, exclusively, as a founda- 
tion,” said Miss Clifford. 

“ Do not many important statements found in 
the Bible, depend for their authenticity, as the word 


74 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


of God, upon the assertion of the author, or 
utterer of the statements, that God appeared to 
them in a dream, and said : or, the angel of the 
Lord appeared to them in a dream, and said, ‘the 
Lord saith,’ etc., which is really no more than say- 
ing, ‘ I dreamed that God said,’ etc. And how about 
the parentage of Jesus — was not that an important 
matter to rest upon the authority of a dream ? 
And had not Joseph fled into Egypt, with Mary 
and her infant son, having been warned to do so in 
a dream, and Jesus had been killed by Herod’s ex- 
ecutioners, how different would have been the 
history of the world these twenty centuries since ! ” 

“O, brother, brother! how can you be so irrev- 
erent and frivolous ? The experience of mankind 
for the last two thousand years bears ample testi- 
mony to the divine character and mission of our 
Lord, had no prophetic word or dream foretold His 
coming.”* 

“ How do dreams differ from ordinary ideation?” 
I said, hoping to divert the Doctor’s train of 
thought. “Are our thoughts more or less pro- 
found or suggestive when dreaming than when 
awake?” 

“The ideation of dreaming is more or less in- 
telligent and trustworthy, corresponding to the 
degree of activity to which the organs of ideation 
may have been aroused by — no matter what — 
sensuous stimulation. As a rule, it is fragmentary, 
inco-ordinate, and incoherent. It is a mistake to 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


75 

suppose dreams are ‘sent’ to, or orginate else- 
where, than in the organs of ideation of the 
dreamer.” 

“ How can that be,” exclaimed Miss Clifford, 
“when our bodies are asleep and the avenues of 
sensation are all closed?” 

“Our organs of consciousness, stored with mem- 
ories, are capable of a certain amount of ideation 
without intercourse with the outer world through 
the avenues of sense,” said the Doctor. “ Nor are 
such organs necessarily sleeping when other organs 
may be.” 

“ The mind does think, then, without the aid of 
the senses when dreaming ! Why not at other 
times? Why not recognize its independence of 
bodily conditions — its spirituality — its immortality ?” 
said Miss Clifford, triumphantly. 

“ There are avenues of sensation,” said the 
Doctor, “ other than those communicating with the 
external world, by which every organ — every mole- 
cule — of the body may make known its presence 
and condition to the central seat of consciousness, 
without necessarily arousing all other organs to 
activity. Besides, we do not recognize in our phi- 
losophy such a thing or function-performing entity 
as ‘ the mind,’ or any thing, inside or outside of 
a man, but brain that thinks or is capable of 
thinking.” 

“Brains think!” exclaimed Miss Clifford. 
“ Brains ! Why, calves and pigs and sheep have 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


76 

brains, and we make puddings of them ! Brains 
think! Well!” 

“Yes,” said the Doctor; “and calves and pigs 
and sheep are thinking beings, as well as men are !” 

“And dreaming beings, also, I suppose?” said 
Miss Clifford. 

“Some of the lower animals — or higher animals, 
rather — do dream,” said the Doctor. “ But if 
angels appear to them in their dreams and say 
‘ thus saith the Lord ’ — I do not know — as a matter 
of fact.” 

“And brains can see without eyes, and hear 
without ears?” continued the fair woman, without 
noticing the Doctor's innuendo. 

“ Brains that have been educated through the 
senses can see and hear, and feel, subjectively, 
after such senses have been destroyed by disease ; 
and can, also, think, within the limits of former 
experiences,” said the Doctor. “We pronounce 
words, mentally, when reading silently, or when 
thinking. I can close my eyes and see, subject- 
ively, every scene that ever made a permanent im- 
pression on my consciousness. Insane persons 
who have lost the natural sense of seeing, or hear- 
ing, are liable to hallucinations, of either vision or 
audition, or both ; and believe their natural senses 
to have been restored.” 

“ I had a case of that kind once in my care! ” I 
said. “The man had been totally blind for several 
years, and became insane. A man of refinement. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


77 


and high social standing, it was pitiable enough to 
see him both blind and insane. But when halluci- 
nation of vision developed, as a feature of his 
insanity ; and he thought he could see his wife or 
daughter in the hall l and had to be restrained to 
prevent him from dashing himself against the wall, 
in attempting to reach, and embrace them ; his 
complaint of cruelty, added to his wail of disap- 
pointment, was sad enough.” 

“Indeed, indeed!” said Miss Clifford; “there 
is nothing that I can think of more mysterious, or 
unaccountable, than diseases of the mind 1 ” 

“ Say ‘diseases of the brain I ’ ” said the Doctor, 
“ and relieve the matter of all mystery ; more than 
attends any disease of the human body. That 
which you call ‘ the mind ’ is but a succession of 
psychic phenomena, of which you can no more 
predicate ‘ disease ’ than you can of thunder, light- 
ning, or a rainbow I You have no idea that spirits — 
even human ghosts — are subject to disease, es- 
pecially insanity, have you? When brains are im- 
paired by disease, their functions are performed 
with corresponding abnormality, disorderly or defi- 
ciently.” 

“ What do brains do when they think ? How do 
they act? Did you ever see a brain think?” said 
Miss Clifford, more quizzically than earnestly. 

“It is not necessary,” said the Doctor, “that I 
should have seen brains think ; or know just what 
takes place in the substance of a brain concom- 


78 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


itant with the manifestation of thought, to know 
that brains do think, which is the all-important fact 
to be determined. We know that they do think, 
because : Whenever matter is organized as brain — 
of no matter what size or quality — as a part of liv- 
ing beings, while in a state of normal activity, 
mental phenomena are invariably manifested in as- 
sociation therewith. That whenever brains are in- 
jured, or destroyed, mental manifestation associated 
therewith become disorderly, or cease. That cer- 
tain characteristics of brain-structure — form, size, 
complexity — give certain indication of mental ca- 
pability, if not peculiarity, of beings over the or- 
ganizations of which they preside. Also, that dis- 
eases of brain, effecting degeneration of structure, 
are accompanied by disorderly mental manifesta- 
tions : delirium, hallucinations, illusions, exaltation 
or depression of feeling, mental enfeeblement, and 
dementia. We know, too, that brains perform the 
function of thinking as other living organisms per- 
form their functions, by the integration and disinte- 
gration of properly prepared matter, incident to 
the endless round of evolution and dissolution that 
pertains to the economy of the universe. Deteri- 
orate brain-pabulum, and mental manifestations will 
deteriorate. Starve brain, and it will act feebly. 
Deprive it of blood, and it will cease to think al- 
together.’’ 

“Of course,” said Miss Clifford, “the spiritual 
man — the human mind — requires material organs 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


79 


for its manifestations, while in this world, clothed 
in its ‘ muddy vesture of decay;’ but when released 
from its material embarrassments, on this plane of 
sense, it will have no such need.” 

“You forget, my dear sister,” said Doctor Clif- 
ford, “that you expect it to be re-embarrassed by 
its old body at and after the resurrection ! Rather 
hard on the spirit — will it not be — after thousands 
of years of freedom between death and that an- 
ticipated reunion ! ” 

“ There are some things in heaven, if not in this 
world, my dear brother, that are not dreamed of in 
your philosophy!” said Miss Clifford, almost com- 
passionately. 

“ I should like to know something about what 
you call heaven,” said the Doctor. “ Is it a place, 
or a condition ? a myth, or a reality ? What do 
you know about it? ” 

“ Search the Scriptures ! ” said Miss Clifford. 

“ I can find nothing very definite, or satisfactory, 
about it in the Bible. The older writers seemed 
to think of it as a place — being once in danger of 
invasion by men from the earth, by means of a 
tower, but not a habitation for human beings. 
Jesus, quoting Isaiah, refers to it as God’s throne. 
St. Paul seems to have regarded it as a condition 
of happiness effected by— being wherever Christ 
is. St. John, the Revelator, who pretends to have 
seen more of it than any one else, describes it as a 
city. But his descriptions are too orientally imagin- 


8o 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


ative and barbaric, or suggestive of diseased brain 
and morbid imaginations, to be worthy of consider- 
ation. The great Christian poets — Dante and 
Milton — who embodied and popularized in litera- 
ture, medieval Christian ideas of heaven and hell, 
can not be regarded, now, as ‘official.’ Minor 
poets make frequent and familiar reference to 
heaven ; sometimes as a place of perfect rest ; at 
other times as a place of active enjoyment. Upon 
what authority they do not state. Swedenborg, 
the only modern author who professes to write 
from knowledge of the subject, has given us a 
systematic work, from which one must conclude 
that it is a condition rather than a place. Many 
conditions, indeed — as he describes many heavens 
— each accommodating, or consisting of, spiritual men 
and women of like affections and delights, whose 
environments consist of correspondential appear- 
ances. His views of the matter seem to be quite 
rational, if — ” 

“ What ! that old lunatic, who pretended that he 
saw Stockholm burning when he was in a foreign 
country, hundreds of miles away? Nonsense!” 
said Miss Clifford. 

“ Subject to epileptic fits, and hallucinations of 
the senses, occasionally, I grant you,” said the 
Doctor; “but not a lunatic proper, nor an impostor! 
He believed in the reality of what he saw and 
heard in his epileptic trances. Besides, he was a 
man of great learning, for his time, and the 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


founder of a sect of Christians of g^reat respecta- 
^%ility.” 

“ I prefer to take my Christianity from first 
hands ! ” said Miss Clifford. 

“ From St. Paul, for example ? ” said the Doctor ; 
“ really, the founder of Christianity as a religious 
cult. Jesus would never have been heard of outside 
of Judaea — nor anywhere else — after the death of 
his immediate disciples, but for Paul. And Paul 
was convinced of the messiahship of Jesus by 
hearing a voice purporting to be that of the Lord, 
while in an epileptic condition, when on his way to 
Damascus as a persecutor of Christ’s followers. 
But for that fit and vision, how different might 
have been the condition and prospects of mankind 
to-day.” 

“Recognition of any thing supernatural, is evi- 
dence, to you, of insanity, delusion, hallucination, 
or something of the kind, is it not ? ” said Miss 
Clifford. 

“O, no,” said the Doctor. “It is an evidence 
of delusion, incidental to ignorance and credulity, 
but not of insanity.” 

“Is not a delusion a symptom of insanity?” 
said Miss Clifford. 

“ Sometimes a symptom,” said the Doctor, “but 
as evidence of insanity, never of itself sufficient to 
establish the fact. There are insane delusions, and 
delusions that are not insane.” 

“What is the difference between sane and in- 


82 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


sane delusions? Can you always distinguish 
them ? ” said Miss Clifford. 

“Ask our friend here,” said the Doctor. “He 
has had better opportunities to study such matters 
than I have had, although, as you know, I have 
seen a good deal of that sort of thing.” 

“ Belief in any thing that is not true,” I said, 
“ constitutes a delusion. But not necessarily an in- 
sane delusion. That which is in accordance with 
a common belief of persons of a given class, based 
upon evidence convincing to such persons — no 
matter how absurd in the estimation of more intel- 
ligent persons — may be rational, and consistent 
with mental soundness. That which is not in ac- 
cordance with a common belief, and is, at the same 
time, contrary to all testimony on the subject, is 
not only a delusion buC an insane delusion. Men, 
in health, are rational beings ; but often reason 
within narrow limits of knowledge and accept false 
testimony, because of inability to discriminate 
true from false. For example : Rachel Vale, a 
worthy member of the Society of Friends, believed 
in the efficacy of Faith in God, and- His crucified 
Son, even to the extent of raising the dead. Such 
belief being common to all Christians, and in ac- 
cordance with the testimony of the Scriptures ac- 
cepted by all — was rational, although a delusion. 
But when Rachel, contrary to the experience of 
mankind and the common belief of the people by 
whom she was surrounded, believed that she could 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


83 


raise a dead man to life by the exercise of faith, as 
a follower of the Lord, and undertook to do so in 
the presence of a meeting-house full of ‘ Friends/ 
by taking the corpse by the hand and commanding 
it, in the name of Jesus Christ, to arise (which the 
young man persistently refused to do), Rachehs 
neighbors recognized her delusion as an evidence 
of insanity, and committed her to the hospital for 
treatment as a lunatic.” 

“Was she indeed insane? Did she really at- 
tempt to raise the dead ? How foolish, in this age, 
so long since the days of miracles ! ” said Miss 
Clifford. “ She was naturally feeble minded, was 
she not ?” 

“ I thought at the time that she was insane,” I 
said. “ She made the attempt, as stated, and told 
me after that she would have succeeded had she 
not felt the least little bit of misgiving when she 
started from her seat in the meeting-house to do 
the work. She was a woman of more than ordinary 
mental capability ; without much culture, and a 
devout follower of Christ, and believer in His 
promises.” 

“ Strange, but true,” said the Doctor, “millions 
of people find no difficulty in believing that jome- 
body raised the dead to life two thousand years 
ago, and send a pious woman to an insane hospital 
for thinking the same thing possible to be done 
now! But excuse the interruption. Go on with 
your story.” 


84 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“ Hallucinations are by far less common than 
delusions ; but are more frequently evidence of 
insanity,” I said. “ One who sees objects that do 
not exist, or hears words that no one has spoken, 
is suffering hallucination ! Hallucinations of hear- 
ing are more common than false visual perceptions. 
Some of the most pitiable subjects that ever came 
directly under my observation or personal care, 
were victims of hallucinations of hearing. I re- 
member many of the kind. One poor fellow, a 
Mr. Payne, when chopping in the forest, heard, 
distinctly, the voice of God (as he was told and 
believed) commanding him to cut off his right leg ! 
Unable to resist an order from such authority, he 
placed his leg upon a log and chopped it off with 
his axe. He was declared to be insane. Then there 
was poor Mrs. Blanque, a woman of high character 
and the mother of many children, who suffered un- 
speakable torture on account of hallucinations. 
Daily and nightly she had to listen to the appeals 
of her daughters, crying to her from overhead or 
underneath — any, and every-where, out of sight — 
suffering all manner of abuse — debauched, butchered, 
cut to pieces and carried off by negroes, Indians, 
their own father — but never finally disposed of! — 
errors of hearing that admitted of no correction or 
mitigation by argument or sensuous demonstration, 
that continued for years ! — until at length, her 
intellectual faculties were worn out, and she 
ceased to suffer because of profound dementia. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


85 

The most distinguished patient I ever had under 
my care — ranking high in science, literature, and 
statesmanship — became a victim of hallucinations 
of sight and hearing, that he could not, himself, 
correct. He suffered, or enjoyed, at the same time, 
insane delusions. He thought himself to. be but 
one remove from a Scottish Earldom, which he ex- 
pected soon to reach by inheritance ; and that he 
was a LieutQnant-Colonel in the Queen’s body 
guard, awaiting orders. He frequently described 
to me persons whom he thought he saw following 
him about the grounds : villians, as he believed ; 
offering him all manner of insult ; accusing him of 
high crimes and misdemeanors, and traducing his 
wife, long since dead, and threatening him with 
personal violence. Finally, he notified me one 
morning of a serious tragedy that had taken place 
in the night, saying : ‘ Those three villians that 

have been pursuing me, as you know, came to my 
door last night and demanded admittance. I 
seized this chair, and bade them enter at their 
peril. As they forced the door I struck the fore- 
most, felling him to the floor dead ! I felt the 
bones of his skull crash under the blow ! The 
next one was struck also, and fell with his face crushed 
but not killed outright. The third one made his es- 
cape ; dragging his companions away with him ! ’ ” 

“ But where was your attendant all this time? ” 
I asked. 

“Ah, that is just what puzzles me!” he said. 


86 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“For when I looked for Tom, there he lay,. fast 
asleep ! ” This man was accustomed to think- 
ing rationally, and considering every thing philo- 
sophically. Yet he could not correct the errors of 
hallucination. Many, even insane persons, con- 
ceal hallucinations that they can not correct, though 
knowing them to be such. Many crimes are com- 
mitted, instigated by suggestions of a hallucinatory 
character, that are ascribed to other motives.” 

“You say one may be deluded, and yet not in- 
sane ! May not one see visions, and hear voices, 
and still be sound?” asked Miss Clifford. 

“Yes,” I said; “but the hallucinations of the 
sane are only occasional, and ephemeral ; depend- 
ing upon some transient disorder of brain ; and are 
generally forgotten, or remembered only as curiosi- 
ties of ideation.” 

“ Such as the dreams of persons with overloaded 
stomachs ; or the visions of the starving, or the 
hallucinations of fevered brains,” said Dr. Clifford. 

“How wise you-all are!” said Miss Clifford. 
“ Yet, if Paul was the founder of Christianity — as 
you say he was — and the vision he had on his way 
to Damascus was a hallucination caused by a fit of 
epilepsy — as you think it was — do you not see that 
the world has been more influenced, and more 
benefited, by one hallucination, than by all the dis- 
coveries of science ? And that dreams have had 
more to do in shaping human beliefs, than all the 
philosophies of all the schools in existence ? I 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


87 

know that you all attribute mental aberration, of 
whatever kind or degree, to brain disorder — al- 
though you can neither locate nor define the disor- 
der causing it with accuracy ; and ridicule the idea 
of spiritual obsession, and possession, as causes of 
insanity ; and call this science, and advancement. 
But you will find yourselves mistaken, after all ! 
Experience has already demonstrated the fact that 
the more hospitals and asylums for the care and 
treatment of insane persons there may be provided 
by public charity, based upon the theory that in- 
sanity is caused by diseases of the brain — placing 
dependence upon medical science for its cure — the 
greater will be the numerical increase of insane 
persons, and the lower will be the ratio of recov- 
eries. If all you doctors knew more about religion, 
and made less pretension of wisdom because of 
your science ; and, believing sincerely in the Lord, 
would adopt his method in your treatment of the 
insane — they might be cured ; all of them ; as all 
were who applied to Him when He was here on 
earth. The great Healer! The true Physician ! ” 
“ You are certainly consistent in this matter, my 
dear sister,” said the Doctor. “ If insanity was 
ever caused by evil spirits (other than alcoholic) it 
is now. If the insane were ever cured by ‘ casting 
out devils,’ they can be so cured now. It is non- 
sense to say ‘ the days of miracles have passed.’ 
Days do not change. Men change. But the dif- 
ference in men since the days of miracles is a dif- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


ference of intelligence only. Why all effort has 
ceased to cure the insane by exorcism — even by 
the priesthood — I do not know. The Roman 
Church only has a ceremonial for that purpose ; 
and our hospitals for the insane are crowded with 
Catholic patients. Satan seems, as usual, to be 
having his own way in the world, regardless of the 
saints ! How do you account for the fact ? Can 
faith exercise its power only in an atmosphere of 
ignorance ? Not even sorcery succeeds in these 
days ? ” 

“Unbelief!” said Miss Clifford, “Infidelity! 
Lack of faith ! — the highest manifestation of in- 
telligence ! ” 

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “Christ, himself, could 
not — or did not — perform miracles in his own 
country, where he was known as a carpenter, and 
not as a prophet, because of the lack of faith on 
the part of the people ! Spirit mediums, so-called, 
I understand, failing to get satisfactory manifesta- 
tions of supernatural phenomena, give as an ex- 
cuse, the fact that some unbeliever is present in the 
circle, by which the ‘ conditions ’ are rendered 
‘ unfavorable ! ’ The bones of saints, nails and 
splinters of the true cross, and other reliquiae, 
sacred tombs and wells — all except the famous 
Lourde — have practically lost their miraculous 
powers. The world is certainly growing wiser, 
if not better.” 

Miss Clifford seemed disposed, herself, to change 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


89 

the subject of the discourse, and turning to me, 
said: “Tell us what became of Rachel Vale, who 
tried to raise the dead. Did she recover? ” 

“A writ of habeas corpus was issued by Judge 
Hines, commanding me to produce the body of 
Rachel in court, and show cause why she was 
restrained of liberty,” I said. “When I told 
Rachel of the fact, and that the carriage was ready 
to take her to the court-house, she informed me, 
after consulting the Lord, that she was not per- 
mitted to go. I told her that it was not a question 
for the Lord to decide, and that she would be com- 
pelled to go. After another consultation, she in- 
formed me that it was not the Lord’s will that she 
should go. So I took the non-resisting saint in my 
arms and placed her in the carriage, and from the 
carriage to the court room, carried her also. She 
seemed to be willing to have the Lord’s will over- 
ruled in the matter.” 

“What was the result of the trial?” asked Miss 
Clifford. 

“An able advocate was employed,” I said, “to 
prosecute the case, and conducted the examination 
with consummate skill. The jurymen were all pro- 
fessors of Christianity, but not ‘Quakers.’ The 
most interesting feature of the trial, however, was 
Rachel’s own defense. Her speech was as elo- 
quent, and as logical, as was that of Paul before 
Agrippa, and along similar lines, showing that her 
faith was in accordance with the word of God, and 


90 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


that her conduct had been in no respect inconsist- 
ent therewith. After hearing her speech, I could 
not but think the real question before the court 
should be: not, is Rachel Vale insane — but are the 
Scriptures true, inspired and infallible, and do they 
mean what they say ? Her brother, testified to her 
soundness of mind, as did some other friends. 
But the jury thought otherwise and remanded her 
back to my custody, They would have sent her 
pious brother with her had it been within their 
power to do so. You see, people do not really 
believe some things that they consent to, and a 
great many professors of Christianity do not know 
— as a matter of fact — what they profess to believe. 
I asked the distinguished attorney employed in this 
case', an ex-governor, ex-United States Senator, and 
then a church-warden, if he believed in the Bible, 
from which he had read copiously, to be inspired, 
supernaturally and true. His answer was, after 
some reflection, ‘ I accept it.’ ” 

“All honest confession,” said Doctor Clifford, 
“and a correct statement of fact respecting the 
mental attitude of thousands of educated Christians 
of the present day, including bishops, professors of 
theology and preachers and laymen.” 

“But what became of Rachel?” persisted Miss 
Clifford. 

“ To make her history more intelligible,” I said, 
“ it will be necessary to state her case more fully. 
She had exhibited other evidence of insanity than 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


91 


the simple incident already mentioned. She had 
appeared at all times of night at neighbors’ houses ; 
entering bed-rooms unannounced, where she would 
strike light, and read from the Scriptures sensa- 
tional passages of the most alarming character ; 
denouncing sin, and warning sinners of impending 
danger ; as suddenly disappearing in the darkness. 
She had, also, to show her willingness to become 
like a little child, according to her understanding 
of the Master’s word— as she told me — got down 
upon the ground, and crawled on hands and knees, 
like an infant. As she did this in the middle of 
the road, obstructing the passage of vehicles going 
home from ‘ meeting,’ and had to be picked up and 
carried, former suspicion of mental aberration was 
confirmed. She had married — rather late in life — 
Joseph Vale, believing him to be — as she told me — 
a devout. God-fearing man. But she soon discov- 
ered that his piety consisted in wearing a broad- 
brimmed hat and a shad-bellied coat. And, in ac- 
cordance with the scriptural injunction, ‘ Be ye not 
unequally yoked together,’ she had refused to live 
with him as his wife. She was willing, however, to 
accept support from Joseph, and money to enable 
her to do missionary work in the cause of the 
Lord, which she felt called to do. She remained 
in hospital three or four months ; always uncom- 
plaining ; referring every thing to the Lord; and 
gradually, as I noticed, became more and more 
natural. Finally Joseph fell sick. I told Rachel 


92 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


of his illness. He was well along in years. He 
was rich. Rachel contemplated the situation, and 
said: ‘I think that Joseph may be attended by 
some improper persons. I feel that .it is my duty 
to go to Joseph, and take care of him.’ As his 
wife? I asked. ‘As his wife.’ She was discharged 
the next day, ‘recovered.’ Joseph died. Rachel 
was left with money sufficient to enable her to go 
wherever ‘called ’ by the missionary spirit that was 
strong within her ; but never after — so far as I 
know — attempted to raise the dead in public, as an 
exhibition of the power of faith.” 

“ Do you think, now, that she was really insane?” 
asked Miss Clifford. 

“ If being out of harmony with one’s environ- 
ments constitutes insanity, she was insane. Had 
she lived in the days when every body believed in 
the practicability of miracles — and the direct com- 
munication of God’s will to certain exceptional in- 
dividuals, as the Jewish prophets, for example — the 
evidence would not have convicted her of insanity !” 

“You would not, then, accuse the people of 
old. — the prophets, and apostles, and those who 
believed with them — of being insane, would you?” 
said Miss Clifford. 

“ No!” I answered ; “ not necessarily.” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


93 


CHAPTER V. 

Man’s place in Nature — “T^’pes of Mankind” — Unity of Mankind — 

Belief and unbelief — Chaldean account of the creation of man — 

Object of creation — God, Christ, Resurrection, Life — A dream. 

Full of Speculation respecting Man’s place in 
Nature, suggested by contemplation of a series of 
skeletons of various animals — man, ape, monkey, 
and other mammals, so arranged as to suggest re- 
lationship, in the National Medical Museum — I had 
made my way to the Smithsonian Institution, and 
was studying the contributions of the government 
to the science of ethnology and ethnography, when 
who should appear, coming into the same depart- 
ment, but my friends, the Cliffords. As it had 
been several days since our last previous meeting, 
our salutations were mutually cordial ; especially 
so, I thought (with some vanity, perhaps), on the 
part of Miss Clifford, whose imposing figure, and 
captivating manner, constituted an irresistible com- 
bination. I did not know why, but her manner, 
while it fascinated, embarrassed me. I felt sure 
that it was not the simple attraction of femininity, 
that held me spell-bound for the moment. I was 
not drawn toward her as I might have been toward 
other women of less beauty, but of different tem- 
perament, and expression of character. As I re- 
call the experience, she must have appeared to me. 


94 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


at that moment, more like an apparition than a 
thing of flesh and blood, whose name I knew, and 
whose hand I had touched. I think that I must 
have stared at the lady involuntarily. I think the 
Doctor must have noticed my embarrassment. If 
I remember correctly, he broke the spell by saying : 
“ This is a creditable exhibition for any government 
to have made — commemorating the appearance, 
peculiarities, manners and customs, methods of liv- 
ing, arms, and arts, and other environments of 
some varieties of the human species, now fast ap- 
proaching extinction under the tread of irresistible 
civilization.” 

“ I do n’t see why the government should trouble 
itself to perpetuate, even the memory of such 
creatures, let alone their hideous faces,” said Miss 
Clifford. “ They are far more repulsive to me than 
ordinary brutes ! ” 

“ Some of them claim descent from brutes : 
wolves, bears, turtles, otters, musk-rats, and the 
like — as ‘ first parents,’ ” said the Doctor. “And 
it may be that — ” 

“Ah! I see,” said Miss Clifford, “original evo- 
lutionists ! I have always wondered where Darwin 
got his first suggestions — a worthy source ! ” Then, 
with a toss of her superb head — as feeling herself 
revenged for something her brother may have said — 
she continued : “ The idea ! adopting the notions 
of such barbarians, an'd calling it science I I am 
amazed ! ” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


95 


Doctor Clifford laughed heartily at his sister’s 
mock earnestness and dramatic manner, but re- 
plied : “ Not genuine, rational evolutionists, these! 
They believed in magic, miracles, and multitudes 
of supernatural beings — great and small, good and 
evil — by which all the phenomena of Nature are 
effected. Less capable than the Chaldeans, He- 
brews, Greeks, or Egyptians, their mental concepts 
were less complex, and their myths were corre- 
spondingly less intelligent. They thought their 
first parents were transformed from brutes into 
men, by ‘ Great Spirits ’ — all subsequent descent 
being in the natural way ! Why not make a man 
out of an animal, instead of dirt! ” 

Determined to arrest, or change, the current of 
discussion, I said : “ There never has been any 
question among anthropologists of the unity of 
species of the genus homo, has there? ” 

“O, yes,” said the Doctor, evidently relieved 
by the diversion; “the fact has been seriously 
questioned, and ably discussed. The most pre- 
tentious effort to establish the fact of a diversity of 
species was made by a member of my own pro- 
fession and state, the late Dr. Nott, of Mobile. He 
published a formidable volume under the title, 
‘Types of Mankind,’ some thirty years ago; not 
read now, but you may have seen it ! ” 

“Yes,” I said, “I happen to have it in my li- 
brary, and read it when published with great in- 
terest, not only because of scientific suggestions 


96 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


then new to me, but because of the evident inspira- 
tion of the book.” 

“You believe that books may be inspired, then ?” 
said Miss Clifford, inquiringly. 

“Yes,” I said, “ I think all books — all thoughts — 
are inspired. But not, necessarily, by supernatural 
powers. The inspiration of Dr. Nott’s book was a 
desire to justify enslavement of the African race by 
establishing the fact of — not only its inferiority, 
but — its constituting a distinct species of mankind. 
A species adapted to — hence designed for — invol- 
untary labor where men of other species can not 
work.” 

“ The God-fearing and Bible-reading people of 
the South did not require any such vindication, I 
am sure!” said Miss Clifford. 

“Of course they did not,” said the Doctor. 
“ The slave-holders of the South — ‘ to the manner 
born,’ and educated from infancy to believe in not 
only the propriety of slavery, but the divine appoint- 
ment of the institution, so far as the descendants of 
Ham were concerned — needed no such vindication. 
But a sentiment had been growing throughout the 
civilized world, questioning, and denying, the right 
of property in man-; and there was a threat in the 
atmosphere of the slave states of this country, like 
the mutterings of a coming storm, causing the 
slave-holders to tremble — not with fear — but indig- 
nation and resentment. It was to mitigate the 
force of this sentiment that Dr. Nott’s book was 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


97 


published. It failed to accomplish its purpose, 
however. Was no more efficacious in staying the 
storm, than was Canute’s command in arresting old 
Ocean’s waves.” 

The ‘ irresistible impulse ’ of plebeian envy and 
insolence, to meddle with other people’s affairs — 
especially if prosperous — actuated the Abolitionists, 
in my opinion, more than any moral, or religious, 
sentiment,” said Miss Clifford. “ We-all are glad, 
now, that the relation of master and slave no 
longer obtains anywhere. Not so much on account 
of the colored people, as on our own, however. Yet 
we do not admit — nor ever will — that the relation 
was sinful in the sight of heaven ; or that Africans, 
of whatever shade of skin, are, or ever will be, our 
equals !” 

“ Nor — speaking for yourself — will you admit that 
many white people are, will you?” said the Doctor, 
with a good-natured smile. 

“Well, no!” said the proud woman, laughingly. 
“The Clifford family is not very numerous, in this 
country.” 

So saying, Miss Clifford seemed to become in- 
terested in some rare birds (we had entered the 
department of ornithology), and I said to the 
Doctor : 

“The varieties of mankind, wherever found — 
apparently indigenous — seem to be admirably 
adapted to the modes of living necessitated by 
environments. Does not the fact, also conspicu- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


ous, that the most perfect specimens of the various 
types of men, as distinguished by color, have been 
found in, or traceable to, certain geographic centers 
of population, suggest — the probability, at least — 
that these distinctive races fir^t appeared in different 
quarters of the globe — at different eras, perhaps — 
and in large numbers, probably?” 

“The suggestion is rational,” said the Doctor. 
“ But a period of such inconceivable duration has 
elapsed since the appearance of mankind as man ; 
and such extensive cosmogonic changes have 
been effected by natural forces within that time, by 
which all the conditions of the earth have been 
modified, it is not possible to determine man’s ap- 
pearance in the primary stages of his evolution ; 
or the geographic home of one, or many, individu- 
als of the genus, from such facts as have been so 
far discovered and correlated. The apparent per- 
manency, of racial characteristics — of both color 
and feature — as traced back far enough to discredit 
Jewish, and Christian, chronology respecting the 
age of the world, was regarded as a strong argu- 
ment in favor of a diversity of species. But now 
the question of time no longer embarrasses the 
advocates of unity. Theologians, even — all but 
my sister here — concede an unimaginable antiquity 
of the earth ; and a corresponding age of man. 
Permament memorials of man’s existence and char- 
acteristics in the earlier stages of human develop- 
ment — the first durable monuments, unquestionably 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


99 


archaic, and authentic as prehistoric human relics — 
have been found in every habitable quarter of the 
earth, so nearly identical in character as to leave 
no doubt of the close similarity of necessities and 
habits — if not the identity of ancestry — of all peo- 
ple thus represented.” 

“ O, the vanity of human wisdom! ” exclaimed 
Miss Clfford, who had evidently been listening to 
her brother’s remarks, while seemingly to be other- 
wise interested. “ How much wiser and better 
to accept the word of God and rest content in 
the certitude of its statements ! Why not be- 
lieve 

“Belief,” said the Doctor, “is not a matter of 
volition, with me. To believe the unbelievable 
— or any thing contrary to evidence — would be an 
exercise of faith which I am incapable of. Before I 
could accept that which you call the ‘ word of God,’ 
as evidence of any thing supernatural or unreason- 
able, it would have to be proven to be the word of 
God by other and better evidence than the ‘ say-so’ 
of men, of whom we can have but little knowledge, 
however indorsed by others who, we are quite sure, 
know no more about it than we do ourselves. 
Besides it is being now extensively discredited as 
the ‘Word of God,’ in the house of His friends. It 
is true: learned theologians and biblical scholars 
may be convicted of heresy because of such indis- 
cretion ; but, thanks to civilization ! they can not 


lOO 


THE CLHTORDS. 


now, as of old, be tortured into recantation, nor 
burned at the stake for their contumacy ! ” 

“ I believe the Bible to be the word of God,” 
said Miss Clifford, “because I believe there is a 
God : supernatural, supreme, creator of heaven 
and earth, and all things therein. Such belief is, 
with me, a necessity. No other hypothesis har- 
monizes all the facts presented to my understanding. 
There can be no effects without causes. Intelligent 
effects imply intelligent causes. Man is an effect 
of creative cause. Man is intelligent. His Creator 
must have been intelligent ! Being so, and supreme, 
it would be unreasonable to. suppose that He 
would have left man without knowledge of his 
Maker, or instruction for his guidance in life as a 
rational and. responsible being. The Bible claims 
to be a revelation of this kind. The church, which 
is also of God, has received the Bible as such 
and given it its authoritative sanction. This 
of itself should outweigh all carking criticism. 
Nothing can take its place ! ” 

“ But mankind has recognized and still believes in 
so many gods!” said Doctor Clifford. “Why do 
you choose the God of the Israelites, discovered 
by Moses in the rugged heights of Mt. Sinai, and 
the Jewish Bible, in preference to the god of the 
Greeks, who had his habitation on Mt. Olympus ; 
and the literature of ancient Greek poets respect- 
ing him ? Does the Mosaic account of the creation 
of man appeal more forcibly to your credulity, or 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


lOI 


reason, than the far more ancient Chaldean record 
of that wonderful event?” 

“ I know nothing of any Chaldean records,” said 
Miss Clifford. “ But if they differ from the Bible 
respecting the creation of man, they must be un- 
true. If they agree with the Bible they are, proba- 
bly, imitations.” 

“That which precedes, historically, by perhaps, 
thousands of years, can not be in imitation of that 
which follows,” said the Doctor. “Abraham’s 
Chaldean ancestors were not ‘imitations’ of his 
Jewish descendants, however closely they may have 
resembled them.” 

“ What does the Chaldean account of the crea- 
tion of man say about the matter ? ” I asked, 
knowing that Miss Clifford was not likely to. “I 
was not aware of the fact that such a record had 
been discovered.” 

“Well,” said the Doctor, “ the record — unques- 
tionably genuine and archaic — after giving an ac- 
count! of creation generally, says : ‘ Belus, (the 

creative god) appeared ; and seeing that the earth 
was desolate, yet teeming with productive power, 
commanded one of the gods to cut off his head, 
and to mix the blood which flowed forth with earth, 
and form men therewith, and beasts that could bear 
the light. ... so man was made and was in- 
telligent, being a partaker of the divine wisdom.’” 

“I see no resemblance of this barbaric fiction to 
the Mosaic account of man’s creation,” said Miss 


102 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


Clifford. “ The idea ! A god commanding his 
own head to be cut off! And blood flowing from 
it I How absurd ! ” • 

“Yet the stories do resemble,” said the Doctor. 
“ So closely, indeed, as to suggest the descent of 
the later from the earlier. Abraham, you know, 
was a Chaldean, and transmitted the legends of 
his ancestors to his descendants, undoubtedly. 
They resemble, particularly, in this : Both repre- 
sent the creation of man as an afterthought — not 
of original design — in consideration of the pro- 
ductive power of the earth. And in this : both 
accounts represent man as having been made out 
of dirt mixed with an element of divinity. In one 
instance, the blood of Belus ; in the other, the 
breath of the Lord, God, was imparted to the clay ; 
whereby — in one case the man became intelligent 
— a partaker of divine wisdom ; in the other, a 
living soul. But you should read the whole story. 
It is very interesting, when considered in its true 
significance.” 

“Yes, in some infidel book, I presume,” said 
Miss Clifford. “ I have no use for such litera- 
ture.” 

“The whole text is to be found in George Raw- 
linson’s ‘ Religions of the Ancient World,’ ” said 
the Doctor, “ the work of a learned, conscientious 
Christian author. Rawliiison recognizes the re- 
semblance of the two stories, but explains the 
circumstance satisfactorily to himself, by assuming 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


103 


the probable fact that God — that is to say — the 
Lord God — revealed the whole business to Adam, 
and through him all the races of mankind retained 
some memories of the truth.” 

“A reasonable explanation — if any were needed,” 
said Miss Clifford. “ How any intelligent person 
can doubt such a revelation, I can not under- 
stand.” 

“And yet,” said the Doctor, “only intelligent 
persons do doubt it,” 

“You do not mean to be understood assaying that 
all intelligent persons doubt it, do you ? ” said Miss 
Clifford, half earnestly and half quizzically. 

“ O, no ! ” said the Doctor, in the same humor : 
“ 1 know of several intelligent persons — one in par- 
ticular — who are not doubtful about the truth of any 
thing found in the Bible. But just why they should 
reject the same kind of revelations found in other 
books as ‘ absurd,’ is one of the curiosities of 
human nature. That Belus, being a god, should 
-have his head cut off, and bleed — is absurd ! That 
Jehovah should incarnate himself, and be crucified, 
and bleed — that is altogether a different thing. 
Christian monks showed the American traveler, 
Stevens, the imprint of the body of a Christian 
saint in the granite rock of Mt. Sinai — plainly seen 
by them. But the same monks scouted the propo- 
sition as preposterous, that Mahomet’s camel’s 
feet left foot-prints on similar rocks, when ascend- 
ing the same mountain. See! ” 


104 the CLIFFORDS. 

“ There may be statements in the Bible,” said 
Miss Clifford, “that, found elsewhere, I might not 
believe. But being the Word of God, I dare not 
discredit any one statement, fearing that by so 
doing, a dangerous doubt might be cast like a pall 
upon so much that is true and essential to human 
happiness as matters of belief. As it is, there is 
no other book of great importance that is scr free 
from ambiguity; so plain, direct, and simple in its^ 
statement of facts ; in its appeals to common con- 
science, and common sense ; in its presentation of 
instruction respecting human conduct, and its con- 
sequences — biographically and historically illus- 
trated ; or so searching in its dissections of the 
human heart; or so inspiring, or consoling, to err- 
ing and repentant souls.” 

“The necessity — as you see it — of maintaining 
the integrity of the whole utterance, if any part is 
to be accepted as the Word of God,” said the 
Doctor, “ is very apparent. But unless authenti- 
cated by other than the admirable characteristics 
that you have recited — none of which imply super- 
natural, or superhuman, capability — it seems to me, 
more rational to recognize it all as human ; and by 
so doing be enabled to eliminate its errors and 
preserve its virtues ! Mankind — even civilized 
mankind — may not be prepared, as yet, for such a 
change. But we are surely — however slowly — ap- 
proaching an era when recognitions of the super- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


105 


natural will no long'er influence the thoughts or 
actions of civilized peoples.” 

“Never!” said Miss Cliflbrd. “The Bible has 
been authenticated as God’s Word in times past by 
prophecies, and their fulfillment, of greater mo- 
ment, as affecting the historic development and wel- 
fare of the human race — extending to another 
world — more memorable than any human event 
could have been — after the invasion of Earth by 
Lucifer and his fallen angels. The Bible will 
never be other than it is: the Word of God ! man’s 
refuge and salvation I Where would mankind be 
now, but for the revelation of God’s will through 
it, disclosing His plan of salvation through the 
atoning sacrifice of His only begotten Son, our 
Lord, the Christ? But for Christianity, where 
would civilization have been to-day, with all its 
boasted blessings ? And — ” 

“ Where, indeed ! ” said Dr. Clifford. “ That is 
a question that may be asked with equal propriety 
by persons who do not recognize the Bible as ‘ in- 
spired,’ or Christ as a supernatural being. It i§ 
not uncommon for sick persons to impair the efforts 
of Nature for their restoration by faith in medicine. 
But having recovered, notwithstanding the — at least 
doubtful — efficacy of drugs, attribute restoration to 
that which hindered rather than helped them. No 
intelligent reader of history can deny the fact that 
the Jewish scriptures, and religion, from which 
Christianity is a natural evolution, have figured 


I06 THE CLIFFORDS. 

conspicuously in the development of the European 
families of mankind. It is, at the same time, im- 
possible to say, certainly, what the present condi- 
tion would have been, of such peoples, had.no such 
influence been brought to bear upon them. We 
rejoice in the liberty and prosperity of European 
civilization of to-day ; and ecclesiasticism exclaims : 
‘ See what Christianity has done for civilization ! ’ 
It is natural for mankind to anticipate happiness, 
and forget misery. But in view of the generally 
forgotten history of Christianity — including the 
history of the church, it might be asked, what has 
civilization done for Christianity? Certainly, its 
characteristics have been greatly modified by some 
influence outside of itself! The Christianity of to- 
day is no more like the Christianity of the Vth, or 
the XVth, or even the Vlllth century, than are any 
other of the great human affairs of to-day like they 
were a thousand years ago! Seen in the light 
which is thrown upon it from present conditions, 
the history of Christianity appears essentially in- 
fernal ! Its bigotry, intolerance, despotism, cruelty, 
and warfare of sects, are amazing to one not 
trained to think optimistically and philosophically ! 
But do not understand me as finding fault with 
Christianity, because of what it is, or what it may 
have been. Regarding it, as I do all other forms 
of religion, as a natural procession, inevitably se- 
quential, and destined to modification by environ- 
mental influences, its character and importance are 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


107 


not to be impugned, or underrated, lightly. But, 
how Jewish history, as set forth in the Bible, or the 
history of Christianity from Paul to Talmadge, can 
be appealed to as proof, or evidence, of any thing 
supernatural, is — to me — incomprehensible ! Cer- 
tainly, such histories testify, unmistakably, to the 
supremacy of human nature in the suggestion, and 
instigation, of conduct, all along the lines of pro- 
gression, whether of patriarchs, priests, kings, or 
people ! and one may say, without irreverence, of 
Jehovah himself.” 

“Yes, I know,” said Miss Clifford, “how you-all 
men of science think there is nothing in the uni- 
verse superior to yourselves ! how, in your spiritual 
blindness, you see nothing around, or above, but 
matter and force ; and explain every thing by your 
new-faneled notions of evolution, dissolution, natu- 
ral suggestion, adaptation to uses, or environments, 
struggles for existence, and survivals of the fittest I 
At the same time, you are suppressing aspirations 
that must arise, ever and forever, in your souls de- 
manding a more satisfactory answer to the ques- 
tions that will not down: ‘ From what, to what ? 
from whence, to whither ? ’ You say to yourselves : 

‘ The universe is a unit, uncreated and eternal ; 
hence, capable of manifesting all phenomena as- 
sociated therewith, unaided ! ’ Are you satisfied by 
the hypothesis? You perceive yourselves to be 
imperfect, and infer from such perception the exist- 
ence of that which is perfect. Only that which is 


io8 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


infinite, unchangeable, and eternal is perfect. God 
alone is infinite and unchangeable! You are 
blinded by your own conceits. You see only 
through your natural senses. There are others, 
however — multitudes on earth, and hosts in heaven 
— who recognize the fact that above — and beyond 
the reach of — natural sense-perceptions there is a 
spiritual world — manifested by spiritual phenomena 
inexplicable by science — knowledges of which have 
been revealed to man through his spiritual facul- 
ties, responsive to his innermost aspirations. Phe- 
nomena that are as far superior to all other in com- 
plexity, and importance to mankind, as the spiritual 
man is superior to the natural man with which it is 
temporarily associated 1 or, as the, imperishable is 
superior to the perishable and evanescent 1 ” 

“As I can not disprove your assertions, my dear 
sister, I shall have to take your word for evidence 
of the facts stated,” said the Doctor, complaisantly, 
“ until my spiritual eyes are opened to the light of 
such knowledges, of which I confess ignorance at 
the present time.” 

“ No matter what, or how many, antecedents 
have contributed to a final sequence,” I said, 
thinking the discussion between the Doctor and 
his sister closed, “must we not, after all, infer a 
further, unknown cause ? Is it not more satisfac- 
tory — and quite as rational — to refer the becoming 
of the universe to a general creation, by a compe- 


THE CLIFFORDS. IO9 

tent designer and creator, than to the inherent 
energy and intelligence of matter itself?” 

“ I do not see what is to be gained by the hy- 
pothesis,” said the Doctor. “It is no more embar- 
rassing to think of the universe as uncreated and 
eternal, than to think of an uncreated creator.” 

“Is there not a display of intelligence — of de- 
sign — in the detailed objects of the universe, and 
their mutual relations, that we can not think matter 
capable of?” I said. 

“That depends upon our ideas of intelligence — 
whether it is corporeal, or phenomenal!” said the 
Doctor. “All forms of organized matter manifest 
it in some degree. Matter organized as brain 
always, unmistakably. As human brains — most 
conspicuously. We can have no conception of in- 
telligence otherwise than as associated with matter. 
I can think of matter — and do so habitually — as 
living, moving, and capable of manifesting all the 
phenomena of nature ; some of which, indeed, may 
be too occult for explication by our undeveloped 
capabilities. But I can not form a rational concept 
of an uncreated creator ; nor of an immaterial 
matter ; nor of disembodied intelligence ! I can 
not think of the becoming of any thing from 
nothing, nor of form without substance. Specula- 
tion respecting primal and ultimate conditions end 
within the dead walls of human limitations, beyond 
which knowledge can not extend itself.” 

“The hypothesis of a creation,” I said, “does 


I lO 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


not imply the becoming of something from nothing, 
does it?” 

“The becoming of the Creator only !” said the 
Doctor. “All creative myths assume the pre-exist- 
ence of matter. Formless and void, it may have 
been, but existing. Neither Belus, nor the Lord 
God, nor any other of the numerous creative gods, 
whose existence, and revelations to men, have been 
authenticated by the statements of multitudes of 
people, could have done more than modify existing 
conditions. Modification is not creation ! Nor 
does it imply original design ! Objects of complex 
mechanism — a Corliss engine, for example — excite 
the wonder and admiration of the uninformed ; 
suggesting almost supernatural intelligence ; and 
yet no mechanism of the kind was ever constructed 
in pursuance of an original design, embracing all 
of its particulars. Take Paley’s famous illustra- 
tion, a modern watch — necessarily implying design, 
and designer — with which my sister overwhelms 
the infantile minds of her Sunday-school classes — 
no watch was ever designed as such, originally, by 
any body. Nor was one ever made, otherwise 
than by modifying, and adapting to new uses, parts 
of already existing mechanisms. Inferences of the 
infantile and ignorant are drawn from ranges of 
facts so narrow, by capabilities so limited and un- 
trained, as to be unworthy of consideration when 
opposed to the deductions of science.” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


I I I 


“And yet,” I said, “ when we consider the uni- 
verse as a whole, must we not admit — ” 

“ ‘Ah, there’s the rub!”’ said the Doctor. “We 
can not consider the universe as a whole with our 
limited faculties, and opportunities. Could we do 
so, there would be no further occasion for specula- 
tion or hypothesis. We should know all about it. 
As it is, we can only infer that whatever facts are 
beyond the limits of our knowledge are continuous, 
hence harmonious, with facts within our compre- 
hension. With this inference we must be content — 
endeavoring, meanwhile, to extend the limits of our 
observation.” 

“ Better the state of infantile faith than such a 
condition of mature, deliberate, don’t-knowative- 
ness!” said Miss Clifford. “The universe without 
a Creator ! Creation without design I Preposter- 
ous I ” 

“As design can be manifested only by an end or 
purpose of the designer: what do you understand 
the design of the universe to have been ? ” said the 
Doctor, addressing his sister. 

“God’s words and works betray it every-where I ” 
said Miss Clifford. “ Only the atheistic or agnostic 
fail to recognize it.” 

“ I would like to know more definitely what was 
God’s purpose in creating the universe, as set forth 
in his word and works according to your interpreta- 
tion ! I am not too stupid, nor too stubborn, to be 
instructed!” said the Doctor, inquisitively. 


112 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“ The purpose of God in creating the universe, 
as set forth in His word — and His works confirm 
it — ” said Miss Clifford, “ was : The manifestation 
of His glory ! Nothing more and nothing less. His 
works all praise Him ! ” 

“ Strangely human ! ” said the Doctor, reflect- 
ively. — “The motive of an oriental monarch ; or a 
western millionaire ! But, I may be mistaken re- 
specting that of which His glory consists?” 

“ God’s glory consists of His divine perfections, 
as manifested in creation ; His infinite power and 
wisdom and grace ! ” said Miss Cliflbrd, unhes- 
itatingly, as if, as it probably was, a catechetic 
memory. 

“And goodness?” suggested the Doctor, with 
an interrogation point in the corner of his eye. 

“Wisdom implies goodness. They are insepa- 
rable,” said Miss Cliflbrd. God pronounced every 
thing good as soon as made. Every thing that was 
made.” 

“ But soon discovered his mistake, did he not? ” 
inquired the Doctor — with the pertinacity of a 
cross-examiner unsatisfied by the testimony given. 

“Mistake!” exclaimed the shocked witness. 
“The suggestion is irreverent, if not blasphemous! ” 

“If not a mistake of design or execution — why 
did the Creator so soon repent having made man, 
and finally determine to destroy him ? If not a 
mistake, why. ...” 

“O brother, brother, for rhercy’s sake be still! 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


II3 

It is unpardonable ! ” said Miss Clifford, quite 
emotionally. “What must our mother feel; how 
must she weep — if angels ever weep — over the de- 
parture from the faith of her dear, beloved, and 
only son ! Why did I ever consent to your going 
abroad to study, as I believed, a learned, noble, 
almost divine — -profession ; which has proved, I fear, 
to have been a broad road leading to perdition ! 
O, that glittering-crested serpent, with its fascinat- 
ing eyes, called science ! . . .. All doctors are 

not atheists, are they ? ” 

“ Pardon, my dear sister,” said the Doctor, ten- 
derly. I have been so in the habit of thinking and 
speaking, freely on all subjects of human interests, 
to persons of like habits, that I forgot how shock- 
ing such freedom of speech may be to those unac- 
customed to it. Persons, it may be, so loyal to 
ancestral faiths as to feel their most sacred senti- 
ments willfully assailed, regardless of personal con- 
siderations. But let me tell you, my dear sister : 
I have not gone so far astray as you may fear I 
have. I more and more believe in, revere, and ad- 
vocate whatever ‘makes for righteousness.’ Am 
moved to veneration, and bow most worshipfully, 
in recognition of all that of which I am a part, but 
yet is not me ; and all the grand processions of the 
universe, of which humanity is, to our perceptions, 
the grandest and most important. Our Father’s 
faith was not more expansive ; our Mother’s con- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


II4 

science more sensitive to wrong, injustice, cruelty, 
or the suffering of mankind, than mine.” 

“Yes,” said Miss Clifford, almost tearfully; “but 
what are all these things, without knowledge of 
God, and acknowledgment of the atoning merits of 
His Son’s self-sacrifice? Why leave God out?” 

“ I understand your anxiety, and the significance 
of your question,” said the Doctor, with some 
feeling. “But you will not understand my answer. 
Briefly stated, I have outgrown the necessity of 
personifying the phenomena of nature as super- 
natural beings ; or constructing, by imagination, 
such beings to account for their manifestation. I 
have reached a plane of intellectual development, 
in fact, where all such images appear to me as 
idols ; and are recognized as only artifices of 
thought; bridges, as it were, by which the 'ignorant 
think themselves transported over an otherwise 
impassable gulf; wholly illusory when seen in a 
higher light than that to which they are accus- 
tomed. I recognize all the phenomena that you 
do. Even the moral, and what you call ‘spiritual.’ 
They appear to me not otherwise than as natural 
processions — each in its way an orderly, and inevi* 
table, sequence of antecedent conditions of the one 
great unquestionable reality — the universe.” 

“Give me ignorance and credulity, still, I say — 
if education leads to such a plane of self-deception 
and spiritual darkness.” After a moment’s reflec- 
tion, she added, as if communing with herself: 


THE CLIFFORDS. II5 

“No God, no Christ! No Christ, no resurrection! 
No resurrection, no everlasting life !” 

Left to my own reflections, by the withdrawal of 
the learned doctor and his imposing sister, I wan- 
dered about listlessly for a time — attracted by no 
particular object — listening, as it were, to the last 
words of that wonderfully fascinating woman. 
Words that for a time were associated with the 
sound of her voice as she had spoken them ; re- 
gretful, sorrowful; softened by suppressed tears ; 
yet full of confidence, and courage. Then, the 
sound having died away and left them like disem- 
bodied ghosts of words, they seemed like whispers, 
yet distinct: No God, no Christ. No Christ, no 
resurrection. No resurrection, no everlasting life. 
Until — undergoing still further transformation — 
they changed from an alternative proposition to a 
positive affirmation : God, Christ, Resurrection, 
Life! 

By every conclusion of mature reasoning, I was 
with the Doctor in my belief. By all the reminis- 
cences of affection that had survived the vicissitudes 
of an undisciplined life, I was drawn toward the 
sister. Whether is it better to follow the woman, 
with her instinctive prescience — led by affection 
toward a promised land of joy, however fictitious — 
or the Doctor, with his accumulation of knowl- 
edges — led by science toward a precipice, beyond 
which is only abysmal darkness — however luminous 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


I l6 

the way thereto ? And I remember now an answer 
persistently forced itself upon consciousness: “It 
is easier to float down stream than to row up.” 

It was late that night when I retired to rest. 
Still the woman’s words were not lost to sense ; 
nor did they fade entirely from the palimpsest of 
memory ; still seen through the gradual obscura- 
tion of approaching slumber — until shut out by the 
falling veil of sleep. 

Within that veil of sleep an inner eye was 
opened, and I saw myself with Dr. Clifford, on 
board a ship, mid-ocean, bound for the Old World — 
to visit in person countries, scenes, and memorials, 
through which the historic development of the 
human race may be traced from prehistoric times ; 
and vast store-houses of knowledge may be found 
open to hungry students. But more especially to 
find, and meet with, men whose large endowments 
and broad culture entitle them to rank as masters 
in the intellectual world ; reflecting honor upon 
all found worthy to be called ‘ disciples.’ I 
seemed to myself to be ambitious to become 
like Dr. Clifford. To acquire his courtliness of 
manner ; his world of information ; and facility 

of expression Suddenly I felt the 

great ship shudder, as with consciousness of 
danger, and heard the tumult of an on-rushing 
tempest — the wail and shriek of frenzied winds and 
waves in conflict, and experienced all the incidents 
of shipwreck. The prayers of the weak, and the 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


II7 

silence of the strong seemed equally unavailing. 
The ship went down, mocked by the tempest, 
heedless of the multitude of helpless human beings, 
some of whom had but a moment before been 
boasting of the triumph of mind over matter ; 

. . . while others had discoursed with equal 

assurance of the kindly care and thoughtfulness of 
an overruling providence. . . . Then all was 

still. . . . Consciousness returning, I found 

myself in an open boat on an open sea. Men 
were with me, but of what manner, or how many, 
I did not know. It was too dark to distinguish in- 
dividuals. Morning came. The boat was over- 
loaded. There was not room for those who would 
have done so to work the oars. Ruthless strong 
ones tripped the weaker and let them fall into the 
sea. No one — nothing — interfered to save them. 
Why have I been spared ? I said to myself. Is it 
not a special providence ? . . . The days went 

on. They came and went serenely. One of our 
number was killed and eaten to save the rest. 

‘ Survival of the fittest,’ I said, involuntarily. Others 
became desperate, or insane, and striving to kill 
each other, fell together into the hungry water. 
The last man, beside myself, lay dying in the boat. 
A loathsome bird that seemed to fall from the dark 
clouds that shut out the blessed heaven, began to 
feed upon his sad remains. . . . The wind 

arose, and I felt the motion of the boat renewed. 
A surfy sound, as of a water-beaten shore was 


Il8 THE CLIFFORDS. 

heard, but neither hope nor fear abode longer with 
me. As when one dreams of waking from a dream, 
but does not wake — so I seemed to myself to have 
regained consciousness, and my eyes were smitten 
with a light too brilliant for endurance. Involun- 
tarily I turned my face to escape its radiance. A 
sound of cathedral bells then filled my ears, and 
sweet voices singing — 

Out of the deep the lost one emerges ! 

Set on his brow the seal of salvation. 

No more shall Doubt with sin-woven scourges 
Drive him afar from Faith’s holy station. 

Angels rejoicing open the gates for him. 

Out of the darkness, bring in the wanderer 
Where the light shineth— 

Light from the Throne of God — 

Light from His holy Word — 

Light from the cross of Christ — 

Light from His empty tomb — 

Faith, with a crown of life 
Joyful, awaits him ! 

Still fancying myself awake, and wondering 
where I could be, and how I came to be there- 
trying to recall the last memorable incident of my 
experience — my eyes opened reluctantly, to meet 
the gaze of one, who, in some way, had been a 
constant presence — subliminal, perhaps — from the 
first hour of mutual recognition. She was like her- 
self — and yet — not like. She was kneeling, on one 
knee, gracefully, beside me. Her upturned face 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


II9 

was serenely joyful. She was attired in pure white 
garments. Her hair, no longer brown, fell over 
her perfect shoulders like silver spray veiling a 
marble figure in a fountain. No sound escaped her 
parted lips. She seemed not to breathe : and yet 
I knew that she was living. I will speak to her, 
and solve this mystery ! — I said to myself. Find- 
ing myself voiceless, with a determined effort I 
filled my lungs by a deep inspiration, and — awoke 
— to hear the rain beating on my window panes, 
and the mantel clock striking an early morning 
hour. 


T 20 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


CHAPTER VI. 


Guiteau — Lionizing criminals — Wilkes Booth — Moral Insanitj' — He- 
redity — Responsibilit}'— Redemption of the elect, only — Religion 
and Science — Religious liberty — A warning. 


I met Dr. Clifford and his sister at breakfast the 
next morning after my ever-memorable dream, re- 
cited in the foregoing chapter. They both seemed 
to be on good terms with themselves, and the rest 
of mankind. For myself, I must have appeared 
stupid, if not impolite. I could think of nothing 
but my dream of the night before, and persistently 
endeavored to interpret it in the presence of the 
two persons who had figured so conspicuously 
therein. The situation was, of course, embarrass- 
ing. I could make no explanation, and could not 
ask assistance. After breakfast, Dr. Clifford asked 
me if I would not like to see Guiteau ? — the as- 
sassin of President Garfield. He said he had been 
requested to see the prisoner in jail, for the pur- 
pose of ascertaining, or forming an opinion of, his 
mental condition, with reference to his responsi- 
bility, or punishability, for his criminal act, by the 
department of justice. 

“ Department of fiddlesticks ! ” exclaimed Miss 
Clifford. “A department of justice would not have 
spared that horrible creature an hour ! He is no 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


I 2 I 


more insane; than you are! I have no patience 
with that kind of weakness that hesitates, and dal- 
lies, in the execution of justice upon a bloody- 
minded miscreant, like Guiteau ! nor with that de- 
praved sentiment, or taste, so often manifested in 
this country — especially by women — in a disposi- 
tion to lionize notorious crminals ! It is shameful ! 
disgraceful ! ” 

“Woman’s perceptions, and estimates, of char- 
acter, and conduct, of individuals with whom they 
come in personal contact — otherwise than as lov- 
ers — are generally sagacious,” said the Doctor. 
“ But of men in social, business, or governmental 
aggregation, her perceptions are not sufficiently 
comprehensive to be trusted. There are main- 
springs of action, and heights of aspiration, if not 
depths of depravity, of which women have no com- 
prehension.” 

“Your estimate of woman’s inferiority, if applied 
to myself alone, would not offend so much as to be 
classed with some of my sex who make a noisy 
pretense of equality with men ; yet I am not pre- 
pared to concede the accuracy of the proposition,” 
said Miss Clifford. “I trust you do not construe 
my expression of abhorrence of this wretch whom 
you are going to see, and probably find irresponsi- 
ble, or my contempt for the so-called ‘ department 
of justice,’ as evidence of incapacity to appreciate 
the characters, or conduct, of some persons whom 
I would scorn to come in contact with ! ” 


122 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“By no means!” said the Doctor. “I hap- 
pened to think of the difference in your percep- 
tions, and estimates, of the character and conduct 
of this assassin of a President of the United States, 
and the conduct of the government respecting him, 
and your thought of another, whom you may re- 
member, who killed — ” 

Miss Clifford’s eyes flashed instantly, and her 
face flamed — whether with shame, or indignation, 
no one might know from her general expression, 
until she said, interrupting her brother: “Wilkes 
Booth I — how can you name him in association with 
Guiteau ? Booth was a patriot, and hero ! This 
Guiteau is a coward, and mercenary murderer I 
Booth thought to serve his country and the cause 
of liberty ! Guiteau thought only of revenge, self- 
aggrandisement, and notoriety ! ” 

“And even he may be entitled to compassion, 
instead of — or as well as — malediction ! ” said the 
Doctor. 

“ Compassion ! ” exclaimed Miss Clifford. “ How 
can you say so ? ” 

“If he was really insane,” said the Doctor, 
“and believed himself to be inspired by super- 
natural influence which he could not resist, and 
thought that he was acting in accordance with the 
will of God, when he shot the President, he is 
greatly to be pitied.” 

“Yes, I’ve no doubt all-you doctors will find 
Guiteau insane, and secure his acquittal, and make 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


123 


a social hero of him — a platform lecturer, or stage 
star — all out of compassion. You are always find- 
ing excuses for evil-doers, instead of condemning 
them to the punishment that they so richly deserve! 
But I suppose you will excuse yourself by saying 
that you inherited the weakness from your father! 

“ Should not they be forgiven who know not 
what they do?” said the Doctor, compassionately. 
“ I do not regret my inheritance ! ” 

“ It is all nonsense talking about such creatures 
as Guiteau not knowing what they do, when they 
deliberately waylay a man and murder him ! ” said 
Miss Clifford. “ He knew what he was doing 
when he provided in advance for escape from an 
anticipated mob ! And he knows now how to im- 
pose upon you-all, and make you believe that he is 
insane and irresponsible! I don’t believe that 
doctors are any better judges of the mental condi- 
tions of other persons than are lawyers or business 
men of ordinary intelligence. Especially you 
doctors that, believe ‘ brains think’ — and deny the 
existence of an immortal soul ! Besides, you-all 
never agree among yourselves about the same case ! 
Think of the testimony in the cases of Sickles, 
Cole, McFarland, and others, whom every body but 
the doctors knew were not insane ! ” 

“ There are many facts that might be stated in 
this connection, ” said the Doctor, “but I have not 
time to discuss them now. Enough to say : they 


124 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


would not all be creditable to the medical profes- 
sion, nor to human nature. Come ! ” 

It was a ride of three or four miles to the prison ; 
but the weather was delightful and the road 
perfect. 

For a time Doctor Clifford seemed to be either 
meditating seriously, or was mentally sluggish ; as 
even brainy men sometimes are after full feeding. 
Soon, however, he said : “ My sister’s head is very 

nearly level — to use a slang phrase— respecting 
doctors’ qualifications as experts, and their testi- 
mony in cases of alleged insanity. 1 have heard 
some remarkable testimony in such cases.” 

“ I must confess that I too have listened with sur- 
prise and humiliation to the testimony of men who 
have the reputation of knowledge and integrity. 
Either the same facts do not necessitate the same 
conclusions in psychologic medicine, or some doc- 
tors of reputation in the specialty are incapable of 
interpretating them correctly. How is it ? ” 

“ Psychologic medicine is not a science,” said 
Doctor Clifford, “and the reputation of doctors is 
often fictitious ; depending more upon the presence 
and address of the man than what he really knows 
on any subject.” 

“ Doctors are accused of selling professional opin- 
ions to suit purchasers ; but I have not been con- 
vinced of the fact,” I said. “They are not mercenary, 
as a class, are they ? ” 

“No!” said the Doctor: “ quite otherwise. . . . 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


125 


And yet — in the crowded state of the profession, 
with its sharp competition: some seeking notori- 
ety with an eye to business — you know the ‘ code ’ 
does not admit direct advertising — and some as 
hungry as Romeo’s apothecary; it is probable that 
money has its influence in exceptional cases. I 
have been informed that several physicians, of more 
or less local distinction as specialists, have made 
application though political friends, or personally, 
to be called as ‘ experts ’ in this case of Guiteau, 
by the government. And the attorney for the 
defense has letters from numerous doctors proffering 
services and advice if desired. Showing that pro- 
fessional men have formed opinions respecting 
Guiteau’s mental status, or taken sides in the mat- 
ter, regardless of facts that should form the basis 
of opinion in all such cases.” 

“ Superficial opinions may be formed in accord- 
ance with partial testimony,” I said; “but a wise 
man withholds judgment until all testimony has 
been heard. Upon what do these men base their 
opinions respecting Guiteau? ” 

“ Newspaper reports and illustrations, dished up 
by artistic caterers to public tastes,” said the Doc- 
tor. “ Medical journals, also, have been discussing 
the matter more or less intelligently. And there is 
a class of medical philosophers who seem to think 
criminal conduct is prima facie evidence of insanity ! 
Men who advocate the validity of so-called ‘ Moral 
Insanity ’ and its entire brood of ‘ Monomanias ’ — 


126 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


any one of which, they claim, should constitute an 
• unconditional excuse for crime ! ’ ” 

“ Is there not a scientific basis for this doctrine 
of ‘ Moral Insanity? ’ ” I asked. 

“There is not,” said Doctor Clifford. “It is a 
pernicious doctrine, composed of the remains of 
metaphysical nonsense respecting an intangible 
hypothetical entity called ‘ the mind ’ — represented 
as consisting of various ‘faculties,’ or ‘powers,’ 
dwelling together, inharmoniously, for the most 
part, in human bodies ; and physiological hypothe- 
ses of the relation of mind to brain, recognizing 
brain as an instrument upon which the aforesaid 
powers play at will — discordantly, or otherwise, 
according to the condition of the instrument, or 
the unanimity of action of the powers : the chances 
being largely against concurrent harmony of the 
powers, and a perfect adjustment of the organs, at 
any given time. A mixture of nonsense and quasi- 
science incidental to the transition of psychology 
from the metaphysical, to the physiologic school ; 
that enables its professors to find almost any per- 
son insane, at any time. Science does not recog- 
nize any such relation of mind to brain, nor such 
a constitution of mind as a hypothetical entity.” 

“ Does not science recognize a distinction of 
will from judgment ; and of reason from imagina- 
tion ? ” I asked. 

“As manifestations of mind: yes,” the Doctor 
replied, “but not as bodies, however attenuate. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


127 

capable of performing functions ! Science speaks 
correctly of will, as a manifestation of mind — of a 
function performed — not of ‘ the will ’—as of a per- 
son. It speaks intelligently of ‘ emotion,’ ‘reason,’ 
etc., but not of ‘ the emotions,’ or ‘ the reason.’ 
Think for a moment, if you can, of the emotions, 
as powers, rising in rebellion against the will, or 
all of the other faculties ; and having first deposed 
the reason, and then subdued the will, proceeding 
to: what? the exercise of will, reason, and 
judgment of themselves! The proposition is' 
absurd. The fact is — all manifestations of will, 
reason, imagination, or memory, even, are but 
variations of response of a common conscious- 
ness to various excitations, from within, or from 
without.” 

“But, most assuredly,” I said, ‘-modern psy- 
chologists still distinguish moral from intellectual 
faculties, do they not? ” 

“ Psychologists may ; science does not,” said the 
Doctor. “ Not if ethical capability is what is 
meant by the term ‘ moral faculties.’ Such capa- 
bility is certainly intellectual ; and of the highest 
order.” 

“ Have we not examples of individuals, if not of 
classes,” I said, “who are moral — to an exemplary 
degree — and yet not remarkably intellectual ? And 
are there not persons who exhibit a high order of 
intelligence, who seem to have no moral sense 
whatever? ” 


128 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“ By far the greater number of civilized people, 
members of churches, and others, are moral from 
habit, or instruction and discipline, rather than 
from ethical perceptions of their own ; and there is, 
now and then, a person of more than ordinary 
business capability — or professional qualification— 
who is exceedingly immoral. And there are in- 
stances of children who seem to be ordinarily in- 
telligent, but appear to be totally deficient respect- 
ing morals. But neither example,” said the Doctor, 
“ disproves the assertion that moral perceptions are 
purely intellectual, and pertain to the higher ranges 
of capability. The fact that all codes of ethics, or 
rules for the government of human conduct, have 
been formulated by men of the highest attainment : 
never by children — not even by women — is, also, 
significant of the fact ! The criminals, of what- 
ever country, are below the average of their peo- 
ple, intellectually considered. And those chil- 
dren who exhibit extreme moral idiocy — as it is 
called — as they mature, show decided intellectual 
defects.” 

“You do not pretend to think that Ingersol is 
not a highly intellectual man — do you?” I said. 

“No, nor that he is not highly moral, also,” 
said the Doctor. “ He repudiates certain features 
of ancient morality, because of higher intellectual 
perceptions of the true elements of morality than 
characterized the semi-barbarians who formulated 
them.” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


129 


“Ah, I see!” I said. “You do not recognize 
some things as immoral that are exceedingly of- 
fensive to the moral senses of others ! Is there no 
standard of morality that should be accepted, and 
comprehended by all peoples ? — regardless of in- 
tellectual capabilities.” 

“ The only public standard of morals for any 
given people, at any given time, is the law,” said 
the Doctor. “ The law as formulated by the 
ruler, or governing class, of such people. Law 
thus constructed, generally represents the wisdom 
of the most intelligent persons of the time and 
people given. Every individual, of sufficient sense, 
will develop a private standard of morals, more or 
less antagonistic to the public standard. Law 
represents the wisdom of the ages as interpreted 
by the law-maker. Moses, for example. The 
standard of individual morality represents the in- 
experience and desires of the individual. Wrong- 
doers, as individuals, justify their conduct to them- 
selves, in accordance with their standards of right 
and wrong. Criminals, as a class, think the law 
is wrong, partial, discriminating against them, and 
oppressive, generally.” 

“ Were not the Greeks, and Romans, both 
memorably intellectual and immoral?” I said. 

“The intellectual development of the Greeks, 
and statesmanship of the Romans, were not gen- 
eral characteristics of the Greek and Roman peo- 
ple ; being limited to comparatively small classes. 


130 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


The great masses of both peoples were not above 
a common low level of the races to which they 
were generically allied. It is in conditions, only, 
of widely diffused knowledge, inseparable from 
conditions of political equality, and general educa- 
tion, that a high degree of general morality may 
be expected to obtain. Nineteenth century moral- 
ity of the common people of both Europe and 
America is, unquestionably, more general, and 
conspicuous, than was that of Greece or Rome, at 
any time. Yet the highest and best men of our 
age find instruction, examples of morality, in the 
lives and writings of such Greeks and Romans as 
Socrates, and Aurelius.” 

We reached the prison. This was not Dr. Clif- 
ford’s first visit, and the prisoner received him with 
a rude cordiality of manner that indicated uncul- 
tured self-conceit. I shall never forget the sense 
of repugnance with which I took the prisoner’s 
hand, when introduced by the Doctor, as his friend. 
I had handled reptiles, when a boy, with compara- 
tive insensitiveness. This creature’s touch was 
more disagreeable than that of a serpent. He 
knew why Dr. Clififord visited him, and talked 
freely. He did not appear to be conscious of 
having done any thing that should degrade him in 
public estimation. Yet I saw, or thought I saw, 
both method and cunning — the cunning of an ani- 
mal — in his manner and conversation. Below the 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


i3I 

average of American men in stature, and lacking 
the dignity of an elevating intellectual develop- 
ment, his presence was not prepossessingly im- 
pressive. He seemed to be, while not suffering 
physical disease, not well nourished. Mental fric- 
tion had, evidently, left well-marked traces on his 
face. He was not deformed. His features were 
not strictly regular, nor symmetrical, but quite or- 
dinary, for a man of his class. His head was pro- 
portionately large enough for his body — its frontal 
and occipital aspects somewhat flattened — and its 
base was rather larger than its dome. His eyes 
were dull ; his nose conspicuous, rather thin, and 
pointed ; mouth coarse, and disagreeable in ex- 
pression. There was no tremor of his muscles. 
His heart was sound, and his respiration natural. 
He talked freely, and quite rapidly, of himself; 
giving us an extended sketch of his life, from 
childhood up — including his late experience as the 
slayer of the President, and a distinguished pris- 
oner of state, awaiting trial involving the possibility 
of death. He did not seem to have the faculty of 
discrimination of character very well developed ; 
as he did not refrain from relating incidents of his 
life — especially incidents occurring while a member 
of the notorious Oneida community — that were dis- 
graceful to himself, and disgusting to persons of 
refinement, although found to be amusing to others 
of vulgar tastes. His account of himself, corrob- 
orated and amplified by subsequent testimony, was 


132 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


interestingly illustrative of the force of heredity, 
and the influence of environments, in the formation 
of character, and the conduct of life. It presented, 
in outline, a backward, feeble childhood ; an un- 
disciplined, superficially, badly educated youth ; and 
an erratic, vascilating, chimerical, conscienceless 
manhood. His father was a political and religious 
fanatic, and other members of his family were “ pe- 
culiar.” He claimed that his whole life had been 
dominated by religious convictions and sentiments ; 
and that in his preparation for “ the removal of the 
President,” and in the act itself, he had been con- 
trolled by an “ irresistible pressure,” which he 
recognized as the will of God. In answer to my 
interrogations, he said that he received communi- 
cations direct from God ; but that he had never 
heard voices, or seen any thing supernatural. That 
he was not a spiritualist ; and did not believe in 
any of their nonsense. That his intercourse with 
the Almighty was the same as that of the old 
prophets — constituting inspiration. He said that 
he was “legally insane” at the time of the “re- 
moval of the President,” but not “ medically in- 
sane ! ” That is to say, that the act was not of his 
own free will, but the will of God ; while he was 
not suffering from any form of mental disease. He 
admitted that, had he received the appointment for 
which he was an applicant, the President would not 
have been “ removed.” He said that he expected 
the result of his act would be restoration of har- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


133 


mony in the Republican party, and that, after the 
first outbreak of excitement had subsided, his serv- 
ices would be recognized, and rewarded. He ad- 
mitted that he had refrained from the commission 
of the act three different times, for what seemed to 
him prudential reasons. He had anticipated a 
frenzied mob, and provided skillfully to escape its 
fury. He had, also, contemplated the defense of 
insanity ; and future benefit to himself to accrue 
from the notoriety that was inevitable. He said 
that he thought, after a short detention in an asy- 
lum for the insane, where he would have time and 
opportunity to prepare a book, and some lectures, 
he would go before the public, and meet with great 
success. 

Returning from the prison, after waiting some 
time in silence, I said to Doctor Clifford : “Well, 
what do you think ? Is he crazy, or only a 
‘ crank ? ’ ” 

“ He may be both,” said the Doctor. “ The po- 
tentiality of insanity resides in the structures of all 
‘ cranks.’ They are more likely to become insane 
under ordinary provocation than are better balanced 
persons. The business of the expert in such cases 
as this is to distinguish between mental manifesta- 
tions of diseased, and healthy, though defective, 
brains ; in other words, to differentiate the de- 
pravity of disease from the depravity of health.” 

“ May they be so much alike that an expert is 


134 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


required to say which is which? ” I asked. “ It is 
generally supposed that the conduct of a lunatic is 
so peculiar, and unmistakable, that the most ordi- 
nary observer can detect it.” 

“Such was the case,” said the Doctor, “when 
only the raving maniac, or imbecile dement, was 
called insane, and insanity was ascribed to demoni- 
acal possession. But now that mental disorder is 
supposed to reflect disorder of brain-function, the 
tendency is to ascribe all manner of depravity to 
disease, instead of to — the devil, as formerly. 
Thieves are now called ‘kleptomaniacs;’ incendia- 
ries are called ‘ pyromaniacs drunkards are com- 
passionated as ‘ dipsomaniacs,’ etc.” 

“No wonder that the number of insane has in- 
creased so rapidly of late years,” I said. 

“ Modern notions respecting mental disorder 
have contributed, undoubtedly, to the great increase 
in the number of persons now regarded as insane,” 
said Dr. Clifford. “There are other facts to be con- 
sidered, however, in accounting for that phenom- 
enon. But what did you think of Guiteau ? ” 

“ He is certainly unbalanced now,” I said, “ and 
it is my belief that he never was well balanced.” 

“You are not alone in your estimate,” said the 
Doctor. “ An intelligent clergyman, who has 
known the Guiteau family intimately for years, says 
that he never regarded Charles as de-ranged, but 
always regarded him as badly ar-ranged. This, it 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


135 


seems to me, covers the whole debatable ground in 
the case.” 

We reached our hotel in time for dinner. Miss 
Clifford met us good naturedly, with the ironical 
inquiry : “Well, I suppose you found the unfortu- 
nate Mr. Guiteau in a state of profound ‘ moral 
insanity,’ did you not ? — an ‘ emotionally insane ’ 
victim of ‘ uncontrollable impulses,’ or an irrespon- 
sible sufferer from ‘transitory homicidal mania ? ’ ” 

“O no! ” said the Doctor. “Nothing of the 
kind ! ” 

“ Not a ‘monomaniac’ of any kind ? ” persisted 
Miss Clifford. “ I thought that experts in lunacy 
always found their subjects of inquiry insane ! ” 

“ Not when employed by the prosecution ! ” the 
Doctor replied, in his sister’s vein of humor. 

“Well, what did you-all find, sure enough? ” said 
Miss Clifford, seriously. 

“Only a poor depraved human being, who in- 
herited weakness and acquired vice ! ” said the 
Doctor. “ An ultimation of ancestral delinquen- 
cies responsive to evil influences or excitations. 
An ‘inevitable sequence of antecedent conditions,’ 
molded by unfavorable environments.” 

“ ‘Still harping on my daughter !’ — Always ring- 
ing in ‘heredity,’ ‘environments,’ ‘sequences,’ and 
‘antecedent conditions,’” said Miss Clifford. “Do 
you know that your philosophy is no better than 
blind fatalism ? That it destroys all aspiration 


136 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


toward virtue as an attainment, and releases every 
body from responsibility from crime ? For my part 
I do not believe in heredity as affecting the charac- 
teristics of individuals — so far as morality is con- 
cerned — and I do believe that every man is respon- 
sible for what he has made himself ; and is answer- 
able to God, if not to his fellow men, for every 
thought and every act of his life.” 

“What?” said the Doctor. “I am astonished! 

I thought that you believed in heredity as the 
method by which human depravity has been per- 
petuated, from the first man created, down to 
ourselves ! I though that you recognized sin, and 
even death, as inherited conditions I You must 
review your theology, my dear sister, or you will 
forget what you really do or do not believe ; and 
permit your naturally good sense to contradict your 
creed, sometimes. Not to believe in the heredity 
of sin ! — that was the heresy of Pelagius : who 
denied the assertion of the catechism: ‘In Adam’s 
fall man sinned all.’” 

“And who, pray, was Pelagius? I never heard 
of him before ! ” said Miss Clifford. 

“ O, he was a British Christian priest, who flour- 
ished just before the invasion of Britian by the 
English : long before the ‘ conquest,’ by our an- 
cestors, and taught the heretical doctrine that 
“ none but Adam himself received any damage for 
his sin. That we are born as holy as Adam was 
before his fall ; and that we can live a holy life by 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


137 


the mere power of our own determination to do so 
without the aid of supernatural grace 
from God.’ ” 

“A species of infidelity” — said Miss Clifford — 
“ that yoLi-all who disbelieve in every thing super- 
natural fully indorse, no doubt ! I thought it was 
of more recent date, however. It seems that a 
great many of your infidel notions are not ‘ modern,’ 
after all.” 

“You admit, then,” said the Doctor, “ that a de- 
nial of heredity, so far as sin is concerned, is he- 
retical, and infidel ; and that the church is right in 
saying : ‘ Original sin’ is the fault and corruption of 
the nature of every man that is naturally engendered 
of the offspring of Adam ; whereby man is far gone 
from original righteousness, and is of his own nature 
inclined to evil !” 

“ I believe that all mankind came under condemna- 
tion because of Adam’s transgression,” said Miss 
Clifford. “ But that does not imply that every man 
must necessarily be wicked ; nor release any one 
from personal responsibility for his conduct.” 

“Poor devils!” exclaimed the Doctor. “Not 
only born helpless and ignorant, to be shaped by 
conditions that were not of our making, from 
which there is no escape ; but doomed to suffer for 
ancestral sins ; and held responsible for every 
thought and act of our own that may happen to 
displease: what or whom? — Is it to be wondered 
at that men who think become skeptical?” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


138 

“ If God had not, in his infinite love and -mercy, 
provided a way whereby mankind may escape, and 
find redemption,” said Miss Clifford, “there might 
be some excuse for questioning God’s wisdom and 
justice. Christ died for all, my brother! ” 

“For all!” said the Doctor. “Are you sure, 
my dear sister ? The world was old, and millions 
of generations of mankind had lived and died before 
Jesus was ever heard of! Died for all ! — we were 
not taught so, in our childhood ! Our mother did 
not so believe ! Our pastor did not so preach ! 
Don’t you remember how persistently it was 
beaten into our memories, if not our understand- 
ings, that God has chosen a certain number in 
Christ to everlasting glory of His free grace and 
love, without respect to his foresight of their faith 
and good works, or any conditions ! That the rest 
of mankind He has been pleased to pass by and 
leave for destruction ! That Christ Jesus, by His 
sufferings and death, made atonement for the elect, 
only ! That mankind are totally depraved by the 
fall, and unable to perform any good action ; and 
by . the imputation of Adam’s sin, as well as by the 
guilt of an actual corrupted nature, they are ob- 
noxious to eternal damnation and all miseries! 
That God doth effectually call by His word and 
spirit those whom He hath been pleased to elect to 
life, so that they can not but yield to His grace ! 
That such as He so called can not finally fall from 
that state of grace! Don’t you remember?” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


139. 


“Indeed I do remember — every word of it!” 
said Miss Clifford. “ But then, you know, we had 
no church in our neighborhood when we were 
children. The people were nearly all dissenters of 
some kind — Presbyterians, mostly; and we heard 
nothing then but old Calvinistic theology. The 
church teaches a different doctrine now, I assure 
you !” 

“What, may I ask, does the church teach now? 
It was originally Calvinistic, I believe. Has it 
modified or rejected its old XXXIX Articles, of 
‘Good Queen Bess’ times?” said the Doctor. 

“The church teaches now,” said Miss Clifford, 
“ that God desires the salvation of all men, gives 
them a free-will to choose the way to salvation, and 
offers them grace to help them on the road.” 

“The church is to be congratulated,” said the 
Doctor, “ on account of progress! But the history 
of theology, as well as every thing else affected by 
human growth, bears testimony to the truth of the 
doctrine of evolution. The Bible, itself, has un- 
dergone many changes since it was first trans- 
lated into English by Wyclif, and others. The 
Presbyterian confession of faith is in process of 
expurgation, with a view to admitting infants, dy- 
ing prematurely, into heaven ; and giving unregen- 
erate heathen a show for salvation, by repentance 
in another life ! How much more merciful God is 
now, than he used to be ! There is no better evi- 
dence of the progress and elevation of mankind. 


140 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


than its improved ideas of the character of God ! 
Yet there is room !” 

“I presume,” said Miss Clifford, “that I shall 
become so accustomed to your profanity, in time, 
that I shall be less shocked by it ; but trust that I 
shall never become indifferent to it.” 

“ You would not believe, were I to tell you, how 
much your religion is indebted to that which you 
call ‘profanity,’” said the Doctor; “which is but 
another name for the sincerity of science ; by the 
aid of which it has been enabled to meet, and keep 
pace with, the wants of growing humanity, and so 
continue its usefulness as an element of civiliza- 
tion.” 

“ Religion indebted to science!” exclaimed Miss 
Clifford. “ Indebted for what? Contradiction, and 
ridicule, scoffing, and contempt?” 

“O, no!” said the Doctor. “For intelligent, 
sincere, and kindly, criticism. For showing its 
devotees how limited, and barbaric, were their 
ideas of God : the crude concepts of ignorant, in- 
capable, superstitious, ancestors which they had 
lacked courage to revise — however discredited by 
better perceptions of their own !” 

“I do not recognize the obligation,” said Miss 
Clifford. “ The warfare of science with religion — 
in which science has always been aggressive, and 
insolent, has had no such redeeming feature.” 

“Science has never waged war against religion,” 
said the Doctor. “ Science is never belligerent ; 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


I4I 

not even bellicose. Its existence depends upon 
harmonizing facts, of no matter what character, or 
significance. Religion is a fact, with which science 
has to deal, as with all other facts, intelligently, and 
impartially. It is not even controversial ! It con- 
tents itself by simple statements of facts in justifica- 
tion of its positions ; as well as for security against 
assault. Its banner, colorless, bears only this de- 
vice : ‘ Truth is mighty and will prevail.’ ” 

“ My brother has certainly mistaken his profes- 
sion,” said Miss Clifford. “ He should have been 
an artist ; he draws such flattering portraits of dis- 
agreeable subjects. But who would recognize the 
likeness ! The bold braggart, and portentous liar, 
science, masquerading in the habiliments of peace, 
under the banner of truth! Clifford, Pinx. 1881. 
Behold the picture I” 

“ Would that I were an artist, for a time ; that I 
might paint my sister’s portrait — so much more 
beautiful and lovely than she thinks herself to be, 
that all the world should see her as — I see her!” 
said the Doctor, with a smile of admiration. 

“ O, you good-for-nothing — provoking — imperti- 
nent there, take that!” said Miss Clifford, as she 

threw her arms about her brother’s neck, with a 
kiss — and instantly withdrew from the room. 

“My sister’s knowledge of science is quite su- 
perficial,” said the Doctor, as she closed the door 
behind her. “She has an impression that it is 


142 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


always hostile to religion ; to which she is un- 
swerving in her loyalty, and devotion. Yet of 
religious beliefs — other than her own — or the his- 
tory of religion as a great human affair — older 
than history — I doubt if she has any knowledge.” 

“ She believes what she pretends to believe,” I 
said, “in God, and the Bible!” 

“Indeed, she does!” said the Doctor. “The 
Bible is to her the ‘word of God,’ sure enough! — 
from Genesis to Revelation ; without much doubt 
respecting the Apocalypse. She believes, too, in 
‘the church,’ of which she is a member ; but not in 
the many Christian sects — none of which are more 
than barely tolerable, in her estimation. She be- 
lieves, also, in the deep degeneracy of all mankind : 
— except the Cliffords, — and most emphatically in 
Hell, — spelled with a big H, and unrevised! She 
thinks of it as an institution indispensable to ‘ the 
eternal fitness of things.’ She finds but little sym- 
pathy in her own nature for the sinner; and in her 
philosophy, no excuse for sin ! ” 

“ Does not the great number of Christian sects, 
each deriving its excuse for being from its own 
construction of Bible texts, about which, of course, 
all other sects are in error ; suggest the human 
origin and fallibility of the Scriptures ? Or how 
do you account for their existence? ” I inquired. 

“Religious sects,” said the Doctor, “like politi- 
cal parties, are natural outgrowths of that universal 
disposition of mankind to become, or to follow. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


143 


leaders. No man of force, no matter how absurd 
his pretext, who sets himself up as a leader and 
displays sufficient zeal and energy, will be long 
without a following. Reformation is generally the 
pretext of political and religious would-be leaders. 
Religious leaders, founders of sects, become sec- 
taries, when by persistent criticism of the ‘ powers 
that be,’ they make themselves, first, disagreeable, 
and then intolerable to their ecclesiastical superiors ; 
and are either excommunicated or secede, with 
some followers, from the body to which they 
originally belonged, to organize a new society. It 
is worthy of remark, also, that nearly all such ‘ re- 
formers ’ begin their work by demanding a return to 
primitive conditions of faith and practice ; and make 
themselves obnoxious to their superiors in authority, 
and popular with their followers by accusations of 
departure from the faith of the fathers ! There is 
no better evidence of the human source of all 
religions, and all ‘ revelations,’ than this, thus made, 
diversity of sects — each professing to be divinely 
authorized and sustained, and to represent more 
nearly than another the teaching and example of a 
Divine Master.” 

“There is a tendency now among the Protestant 
sects of Christianity,” I said, “to reunite and form 
a common body, is there not? ” 

“The sects are becoming less bigoted and acri- 
monious toward each other,” said the Doctor, “but 
without any prospect of consolidation. Uniformity 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


T44 

of feeling or unanimity of sentiment is not charac- 
istic of human nature. And it may be depended 
upon, under all circumstances, that human nature 
will, in the long run, assert its superiority over any, 
over all, suggestions that traverse it. The older 
sects in Europe — some of them dating back to the 
days of the Apostles, almost — are more hostile to 
each , other than are the newer sects, especially 
of this country. At least I should think so from 
what a distinguished American missionary, with 
whom I became acquainted in Egypt, told me — a 
man who had spent thirty years in Egypt and 
Syria. We were discussing ‘ the unspeakable 
Turk,’ in a general way, when he said, incidentally : 
But for Turkish soldiers on duty in Jerusalem, 
about Easter, Christian sects that assemble there 
about that time would come to blows and blood- 
shed around the holy sepulcher! so bitter is their 
feeling toward each other. Our sects are more 
tolerant of each other, because our people are 
influenced by the education of free political institu- 
tions. Religious liberty is a sequence, not an ante- 
cedent of civil liberty. Voluntary religious toler- 
ance on the part of a free people is indicative of 
expanding capabilities and increasing knowledge ; at- 
tended by broader and higher moral perceptions, and 
corresponding diminution of fear and awe of the super- 
natural and faiths that spring therefrom. Such con- 
ditions never obtain where despotism of any kind pre- 
vails. A certain degree of freedom, and individualism. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


145 


is essential to intellectual development upon the 
higher planes of life, where morality, springing 
spontaneously from intellectual perceptions of what 
is best, more than compensates the decadence of 
ecclesiastical authority.” 

When Miss Clifford re-entered the room, ready 
for dinner, I thought that I had never before seen 
so majestic, or so lovely, a woman. My first im- 
pression of her had been that of a remarkable 
woman ; but this was, to that, as. reality to a mirage. 
If human beings are really spirits within material 
forms — souls capable of independent life and ac- 
tion — then this woman’s soul was filling her eyes 
with spiritual luster that illuminated all other feat- 
ures ; and, falling upon mine, fixed them in steady, 
involuntary admiration. She did not shrink from 
my gaze, nor seem to think it impertinent, or un- 
natural. As she took my proffered arm, she said, 
with a sympathetic tone that conveyed more mean- 
ing than her words expressed : “You must not let 
my brother’s fascinating manner, and subtle phi- 
losophy, lead you into error. He is so good a man 
himself — so much better than the doctrines he 
teaches — that I fear his personal influence upon 
those in whom we — he — takes more than ordinary 
interest — more than I do his opinions.” 

I thanked the lady, stumblingly, I fear, as well as 
I could under the circumstances, thinking, at the 
same time, “It is your fascinations that I am in 
danger of, and not your brother’s;” but saying: 


146 


THE CLIFP'ORDS. 


“ Being a seeker for — not Truth, perhaps — Truth 
seems so inaccessible — so like mountain peaks — 
more and more aerial as approached — but for that 
which is at once attainable, and best for present 
needs — I do not feel that I am in immediate dan- 
ger from your brother’s teaching. At my age — 
having suffered so many deceptions, and disappoint- 
ments — I should not be subject to the allurements 
by which youth and innocence are led astray. But, 
even were I now an inexperienced youth — an in- 
tellectual Telemachus — with yourself for Mentor — 
I feel that I might safely venture upon the high 
seas of knowledge.” Miss Clifford smiled ac- 
knowledgment, interrogatively — as if doubtful of 
my sincerity, or the significance of my speech, as 
we took seats at the breakfast table. Was I sin- 
cere ? What did I mean? Was she a superior 
being, or only a woman ? 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


147 


CHAPTER VII. 


Medical Experts in the Guiteau case— Personal sketches— Trial of 
Guiteau — Miss Clifford’s report — Negro philosophy' respecting the 
assassination of the President — Responsibility pertains to Society, 
not to indiyidual conditions — An Irish I^unatic’s idea of Responsi- 
bility — ^Juries decide — My first experience as an Expert. 

Meeting Dr. Clifford after supper, he said to me : 
“There is to be a meeting of medical experts in 
Parlor ‘A,’ of this hotel, this evening, several of 
whom have arrived from different parts of the 
country, in response to subpenas issued for the de- 
fense, in the trial of Guiteau, that is to begin to- 
morrow. Would you like to be present? ” 

“ If not objectionable,” I said. “ I should take it 
as a great favor ! ” 

Dr. Clifford called for me at the proper time, and 
we were soon in the midst of a group of our own 
profession, from different states of the Union, sit- 
ting, informally, as a jury of experts, to decide the 
question of Guiteau’s mental status, and moral re- 
sponsibility. There were, in the room, two doctors 
from New York City, one a man of mature age, 
large capabilities, and long experience as a physi- 
cian to the insane ; the other, much younger, but 
not unknown to fame, having understood, and ap- 
plied, the art of self-advertising, was vain, egotistic, 
and as positive as the older man was conservative 


148 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


and hesitating. Three doctors of medicine, and 
one of homeopathy, from Massachusetts — Boston, 
or its neighborhood — all young men, or not be- 
yond middle age. One of whom seemed to be 
very much interested ; very earnest; full of informa- 
tion on all subjects ; but apparently incapable of 
focussing his ideas ; or applying principles to given 
states of fact satisfactorily, or conclusively. Another, 
of equal intelligence and learning, and more prac- 
tical knowledge ; was as concentrative, apparently, 
as the first mentioned was diffusive. He seemed, 
indeed, to have focussed his ideas upon a small 
point ; from which he was incapable — for the time 
being — of withdrawing his attention. A third — 
somewhat older, but more limited in capability and 
culture than the other two— evidently belonged to 
a class of ‘ narrow-gauge ’ doctors — thoroughly per- 
suaded in his own mind ; but without sufficient 
breadth of observation or reflection to render his 
opinion valuable. The doctor of homeopathy was 
by no means an infinitessimal quantity as a man 
of intelligence. He was quite as capable of ‘ guess- 
ing ’ what Guiteau’s mental condition might have 
been when he shot the President — in the absence 
of definite information — as any of the other men. 
There was a young doctor also from Chicago : full 
of ideas ; with ready reference to a dozen authors 
in support of each idea. There was a modest 
young medical man from Milwaukee ; who seemed 
to be intelligent and sincere ; but neither aggressive 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


149 


nor opinionated — as was his learned confrere from 
Chicago, with whose opinions he seemed to be in 
harmony. A doctor from Connecticut was there, 
who made no exhibition, of peculiarities, if he had 
any, other than by an apparently judicial thought- 
fulness, or discreet reticence. Others were there, 
also, exhibiting only the wisdom of silence ; who, 
if they exposed themselves in any way, the fact 
was not observed. I listened with attention to 
every thing that was said. It seemed to have been 
a foregone conclusion, on the part of the more 
garrulous, that Guiteau was insane. It seemed to 
be difficult, however, to harmonize opinions re- 
specting the form of insanity which he was suffer- 
ing. The older gentleman from New York 
suggested the propriety and policy of calling it “ a 
certain degree of imbecility.” The younger gen- 
tlemen from New York, pooh-poohed the proposi- 
tion of the older gentleman, as absurd, and strenu- 
ously insisted on its being denominated “ religious 
monomania.” A gentleman from Ohio, who had not 
before spoken, suggested : it would be a good 
while before any jury sufficiently ignorant to serve 
in this case could be convinced that Guiteau was 
“ imbecile.” The diffusive and undecided gentle- 
man from Boston was “ suspicious ” — as he said — 
of “ incipient paresis ;” but thought it possible that 
a certain degree of “imbecility” had, under the 
pressure of great excitement, culminated in “re- 
ligious monomania.” The concentrative gentle- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


150 

man from Massachusetts was convinced that the 
case was one of unmistakable “ moral insanity.” 
The other gentleman from Boston, “ fully per- 
suaded in his own mind,” was clearly of the 
opinion that the assassin was a “ paranoiac.” The 
gentleman from Chicago, claimed to have made an 
exhaustive study of the subject ; and no better ex- 
ample could be found, as he thought, of a recently 
described variety of insanity, (citing several Ger- 
man authors) known as “ Verriicktheit Originall.” 
The English equivalent of which is : congenital, or 
spontaneous craziness. Constitutional insanity. If 
he had used the German word, “ Verriichtheit,” sub- 
stituting “ ck ” by “ch,” I thought he would have 
diagnosed the case correctly ; the English equivalent 
of the word thus spelled being: “nefariousness, 
infamy, atrocity, wickedness.” A general dis- 
cussion, without order, was kept up for two hours. 
Finally a doctor from Ohio, whom I had not ob- 
served before, said that he had but just arrived, 
and would be pleased to be informed of the fact, 
if Guiteau had been declared insane, and, if so, upon 
what authority ? The senior gentleman from New 
York, who assumed a sort of chairmanship of the 
meeting, said, for the information of his newly- 
arrived friend, whom he was very glad to see : that 
so far the proceedings had were entirely informal, 
and perhaps — to use a slang phrase — “ a little pre- 
vious.” He then admitted that he was somewhat 
in doubt, himself, respecting Guiteau’s condition. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


I5I 

He said that he had seen the prisoner but once ; 
and then under unfavorable circumstances. That 
many of the gentlemen present had not seen him ; 
and could have formed opinions, if at all, from 
newspaper reports, and illustrations, only. And 
that he thought it would be well, perhaps, to post- 
pone further discussion of the matter until all per- 
sons interested had seen, and studied the prisoner 
personally. The younger doctor from New York 
said that he had not seen Guiteau ; nor did he 
wish to see him, for the purpose of diagnosticating 
his mental condition. No physician — he said — 
was fit to practice medicine who could not diagnose 
such a case as w^ell without seeing the patient as 
with. As the meeting was about to break up, some 
gentleman suggested the propriety of ascertaining 
what the experts “on the other side” were doing. 
Dr. Clifford then inquired : “ The other side of what ? 
may I ask.” “ The other side of this case !” was the 
reply. “The experts for the prosecution are stop- 
ping at the other house.” “ Is it expected, then, 
that medical witnesses will testify in the interest of 
the party calling them?” asked Dr. Clifford. “It 
is presumable that attorneys would not call wit- 
nesses without knowing the general tenor of their 
thought respecting the case beforehand.” “And 
experts,” said the Cincinnati man, “ like detectives, 
are expected to find what they are employed to 
look for.” The meeting then adjourned. 

A few minutes afterward. Dr. Clifford sent his 


152 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


card, with my name in pencil on it, to the distin- 
guished physician, and professor, from the interior 
of the State of New York, who had been employed 
by the department of justice to investigate the 
Guiteau business, and report the probable condi- 
tion of the prisoner, mentally, when the assassina- 
tion of the President was accomplished. He had ^ 
thus been engaged for several weeks, alone, and 
unobtrusively. We were soon ushered into his 
presence, and cordially received. He was a short, 
but massive, man, in the prime of life ; whose 
presence would have attracted attention anywhere, 
in any company. Physically his breadth compen- 
sated lack of elevation. If the same could have 
been said of him intellectually, my observation of 
him was not sufficiently critical to justify the af- 
firmation. Yet my belief is that some inference of 
character may be drawn from the form of a man, if 
not perverted by bad habits or continued ill-health. 
There were present, in the doctor’s room, at the 
time of our visit, two doctors from New York City, 
one from Tennessee, two from Ohio, one from 
Connecticut, and one from Wisconsin (formerly 
from New York); all of whom were — and had been 
for years — engaged in the management of public 
institutions for the custody and medical treatment 
of the insane. I speak of them now, more partic- 
ularly, because of the suggestion of relation of 
character to form. All of these men were large ; 
several of them six feet, or more, in height ; and 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


153 


not one would have weighed less than nearly two 
hundred pounds. The contrast presented by the 
men of this group, compared with those assembled 
at the “other hotel,” was interesting. Nor did it 
cease to be so, to me, for several weeks, during 
which I had daily observation of them all. The 
most interesting figure, at the moment, was our 
host, of course. He was dignified, and complaisant 
in his cordiality ; and although evidently accus- 
tomed to deference from others, he did not permit 
others to feel oppressed by an air of superiority. 
He expressed opinions freely, but not pedantically, 
and listened to others with apparent interest, how- 
ever commonplace their remarks. He was a man 
who would have been, conspicuous in any profes- 
sion, or calling, in life. He would have governed 
a state, if called to do so, with as much ease, and 
as successfully, as he did the then most important 
state hospital for the insane in New York. He 
would have been as strong and influential as a 
senator of the United States, as he was as a pro- 
fessor in a college of medicine. His knowledge 
of science was respectable, if not profound ; and 
his knowledge of men was accurate, though in- 
tuitive. He appreciated the value of other men’s 
labor, and appropriated freely the work of ob- 
scure laborers in the profession, as the founda- 
tion of his own reputation. In conversation his 
speech was direct and forcible, rather than polished ; 
and although sufficiently voluble, he was never gar- 


154 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


rulous. He had the good taste to use familiar 
words, habitually, rather than unusual or foreign 
terms. His knowledge of facts was extensive and 
varied, but his imaginative faculties were not highly 
developed. His theories were, therefore, more 
practical than poetical ; and his arguments more 
convincing than persuasive. He read to us his 
notes of conversations with, and observations of, 
Guiteau, made almost daily for several weeks, 
without the attempt to influence the opinion of any 
one present, otherwise. Dr. Clifford and myself 
could have attested the accuracy of some of the 
notes read, having heard and seen the same things 
but a few hours before. Other gentlemen seemed 
to be somewhat surprised ; especially the doctor 
from Tennessee, who confessed that he had enter- 
tained a feeling, amounting almost to conviction, 
that Guiteau was insane. He was not prepared 
for just such an exposition. He admitted, however, 
that his prejudice grew out of personal knowledge 
of an ancestral relative of the prisoner — an uncle, 
perhaps, whom he believed to be insane. The con- 
clusion so easily reached by our people, to whom 
assassination is a shocking incident, because of its 
rarity, that no person of common sense, in his 
right mind, would commit such an act, had not 
been without its influence upon some of the medical 
gentlemen present, as well as upon many more 
common people. It was evident, however, from the 
facts read to us by so competent an observer, that 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


155 


the popular impression of the man Guiteau, and his 
conduct, was much exaggerated and shaded by 
press-reporters in the interest of that indispensable 
intellectual luxury — “modern journalism.” 

“An inference of insanity,” said Dr. Clifford, 
“ drawn from the simple fact of the perpetration of 
an atrocious crime, actuated by motives irreconcil- 
able with our notions of ‘ common sense ’ — in the 
absence of commemorative circumstances — is not 
irrational, nor, with our habits of thinking, to be 
wondered at. We do not accustom ourselves, as 
we should, to more accurate analyses of human 
motives and general mental characteristics of a 
great variety of individuals and classes of men who 
are too unlike ourselves to be judged by ourselves 
in generals or particulars. It was once thought, 
and many persons still think, that our only knowl- 
edge of men is derivable from self inspection. 
Judgments based upon testimony thus obtained are 
never accurate, and are, therefore, never just. 
Every man must be estimated as an individual, 
with personal peculiarities — not by a fixed standard 
of humanity constructed from the knowledge of 
self.” 

“And must be estimated as a whole, not by 
fragments,” said our host. ‘ To test a man by a 
single act would endanger the reputation of any 
man for sanity.” 

“ Quite a difference in the intellectual atmosphere 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


156 

of the room just left,” I said, “ from that over at 
the ‘ other hotel ! ’ ” But Dr. Clifford did not rec- 
ognize my challenge ; so we made our way in 
silence to our own good hostelry. . . Some days 

after, as we happened to be near the place where 
the challenge was given, Dr. Clifford said : “What 
a difference there is between men of learning, 
merely, and men of both learning and understand- 
ing ! The learned are often loquacious and voluble, 
but neither logical nor trustworthy as instructors, 
while men of learning and understanding are both 
instructive and entertaining. Some doctors are 
cranks ! ”* 

“ Speak you now of men in general, or have you 
some special persons under consideration ? ” I 
ventured to ask. 

“ I was thinking of certain members of our own 
profession,” said the Doctor. “ But the criticism 
is applicable to others^as well. There be doctors — 
and — doctors ! ” 

“The loquacious,” I said, “ are more influential in 
the formation of public opinion than the wise, are 
they not?” “The uneducated multitude is not ap- 
preciative.” 

“ More so than you may think they are,” said 
the Doctor. “There is an average ‘ common sense’ 
developed by the American people that redeems 
them as a people from the intellectual stupidity of 
the lower, uneducated classes of Europe. There is 
something, too, in anglo-saxon blood. The loqua- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


157 


cious are generally vain, and delight in hearing 
themselves talk, and in seeing their names in print. 
Hence they are to be found in pulpits, professorial 
chairs, politics, and as platform lecturers, able edi- 
tors, and other occupations of a worthy character. 
But the influence which men exert should be meas- 
ured by its durability. Loquacity is ephemeral. 
Wisdom is perennial. Homer, Socrates, St. Paul, 
Shakespeare — among those most familiar — had 
many contemporaries. But few of them all out- 
lived their day and generation. Henry Clay was 
idolized by half the people of the United States, 
for forty years, as an orator. His words have now 
been all forgotten. He left no permanent im- 
pression upon the civilization of the age. The 
work of James G. Birney — a contemporary, and 
Kentuckian, also, as the advocate of liberty, and 
one-time leader of the anti-slavery party, when 
most unpopular, yet aggressive — was far more dur- 
able, and important, than that of Henry Clay. His 
memory deserves a monument! ” 

“And you are an Alabamian ! ” I said. 

“ I was born in Alabama, and reside there now ; 
but the world is my country, and mankind are my 
kindred ! ” said the Doctor. 

The trial of Guiteau occupied the court forty 
days, or more. It was a remarkable trial ; re 
markable because of the conduct of the prisoner at- 
the bar, and the conduct of the court as well. The 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


158 

defendant — claiming the privilege of an attorney in 
his own defense — occupied a seat within the bar, 
instead of in the prisoner’s dock ; and, while al- 
ways crouching, as in fear, was frequently aggres- 
sive, insolent, and vituperative toward judge, pros- 
ecuting attorneys, witnesses, and som.etimes toward 
his own attorney, who seemed entirely unable to 
control his conduct, but may have been in collusion 
with him at the time. The judge was a reputable 
jurist, and did all that could be done, under the cir- 
cumstances, to preserve order and decorum. The 
marshal (court bailiff) was a solemn old imbecile, 
at whom every body laughed whenever he cautioned 
the people in attendance respecting their behavior, 
advising them to “ conduct yourselves just as if you 
were in church ! ” The court-room was unventi- 
lated, and crowded to suffocation. Women, occa- 
sionally, fainted, or became hysterical. A distin- 
guished medical gentleman — holding an important 
governmental position — strictly temperate in his 
habits — became nauseated, and unable to reach ac- 
commodations, soiled the hall-floor. “Drunk! 
drunk!” was the impromptu verdict. But the 
controlling influence, unrecognized as such by 
many, that did so much toward the demoralization 
of the court proceedings — converting the court-room 
into a public place of amusement, under the name 
of “The Government Circus,” was the daily press. 
Between the bar and the bench was a long table 
surrounded by talented representatives of all the 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


159 


great dailies of the country, diligently employed in 
the interest of newspaperdom. Their reports oc- 
cupied, including head-lines, a large amount of 
space of every issue of all the journals represented. 
These reporters manipulated the prisoner to suit 
themselves, with a view to making the most of 
possibilities, from day to day. They exaggerated 
his real conduct, and stimulated him to fresh exhi- 
bitions of egotism, and insolence, as often as occa- 
sion required. Repeatedly I saw one of these 
sagacious caterers to the public appetite for sensa- 
tional literature, when the “performance” seemed 
to drag, and the star performer appeared indifferent 
to their interests — becoming dull — write something 
on a piece of paper, roll it up, and pass it through 
two or three hands to the prisoner, who would se- 
cretly unfold and read it, and as soon as practicable 
break out in a characteristic demonstration that 
would set the house in a roar. In a few minutes 
after, perhaps, all the particulars would be flashed 
to every quarter of the country, with the prisoner’s 
part in the proceedings in capitals. 

Dr. Cliflbrd, and nine or ten other experts called 
by the government, and half as many more called 
by the defense, were in constant attendance. 
About the second week of the trial, the dis- 
tinguished medical gentlemen from New York, 
first mentioned in this memoir, called upon the 
attorney defending Guiteau, and notified him that 
he should not be able to testify in the case as had 


i6o 


■ THE CLIFFORDS. 


been expected of him to do, as he did not think 
the plea of insanity could be sustained by the facts 
so far as introduced. This was a serious break in 
the case for the defense. The tall, handsome 
young doctor from Boston, finding himself more 
and more incapable of focussing an opinion, went 
home. The concentrative gentlemen also notified 
the defendant’s attorney that he could not be de- 
pended upon to sustain the plea as made. The other 
Bostonian, “ fully persuaded in his own mind,” did 
likewise. The doctor of homeopathy, announced 
his readiness to testify on the part of the govern- 
ment, and was adopted as a government expert. 
The doctor from Milwaukee, retired early from the 
field. The most important of all the experts 
called by the defense — according to his estimate of 
himself — the gentleman from New York City, who 
could diagnose a case of insanity as well without 
seeing the patient as with ; and knew that Guiteau 
was a ‘"religious monomaniac,” kept aloof until the 
case was given to the jury ; but then appeared with 
a flourish of trumpets, and demanded an oppor- 
tunity to testify. The only expert called by the 
defense, because of preconceived, and publicly ex- 
pressed, opinions that Guiteau was insane — the 
only one of those who attended on the trial — who did 
not waver in his opinion after seeing the man, and 
hearing the testimony in the case: was the learned 
young man from Chicago. This man stood firmly 
by his opinions, and testified intelligently and con- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


l6l 


sistently, as he believed the facts warranted. His 
testimony would have been more valuable, so far as 
its influence with the jury might indicate value, had 
he not known quite so much (for one of his age), 
or been quite so sure of what he pretended to 
know. As it was, an unfortunate statement to the 
effect : “ out of five persons at least one is insane,” 
to which Attorney Davidge responded with a 
groan: “Then two of our jury are incompetent!” 
discredited the young man’s pretensions to knowl- 
edge unwarrantably. This young man’s testimony 
was supplemented by that of another young doctor 
from New York City, who had not been in attend- 
ance, and appeared, 3s if very reluctantly, to es- 
cape arrest — a man who, not older than the Chi- 
cago doctor, knew more, or was more egotistically 
aggressive and self-confident than the other. 
He knew what he knew ! — and notwithstanding 
affected reluctance, as a witness, he confessed that 
he had written, or inspired the writing, of several 
articles and editorials, published in New York 
medical journals, maintaining the insanity of Gui- 
teau ; and that he had written to the attorney for 
the defense, voluntarily, expressing his opinion that 
Guiteau was insane. This witness — no other of 
importance testified for the defense — took the same 
view of the case that was presented by the Chicago 
doctor : that is, that Guiteau was born insane ; had 
been insane all his life. He said that he had formed 
this opinion long before seeing the deferidant : from 


i 62 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


newspaper reports of his conduct, and illustrations 
of his person. He said that he had spent an hour 
and a half in the jail the day before, examining the 
prisoner : found no evidence of physical disease — 
but much of congenital defect, by which his pre- 
conceived opinion of insanity was confirmed. His 
examination — he said — was superfluous, and made 
for the sake of record. He knew that he had an 
insane person to deal with the moment he saw him. 
He said that he had never seen a better example of the 
insane expression anywhere. The evidence of his 
insanity — he said — was to be found in his tendency 
to form delusive opinions, and morbid projects ; his 
defective judgment and inordinate egotism. The 
condition being congenital, as indicated by the 
asymmetry of his skull, the unequal enervation of 
the muscles of the face — as shown by the inequality 
of the creases and folds of the two cheeks, and 
the deflection of his tongue to one side, when pro- 
truded— in the absence of injury, or disease of the 
brain — stamped him as a “moral monstrosity.” 
He said, also, exhibiting his own “ inordinate ego- 
tism “the expert who would pronounce this man 
sane, is either not an expert, or not an honest 
one.” 

After the delivery of the testimony of this 
“pert” expert, as we walked back to our hotel. 
Dr. Clifford said: “Such testimony is of no scien- 
tific value. The witness says the man is insane, 
and yet exhibits no evidence of physical disease. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


63 


Insanity is a condition of mind that can not be ac- 
counted for upon any other hypothesis than that of 
disease. The function of an expert is to differen- 
tiate the depravity, which is not natural to the 
man, but is the result of disease, .from that which 
is natural, and consistent with states of health. 
This witness confounds the two conditions ; and 
says no man is honest, or intelligent, who does not 
think as he does. He is a bright young man, but 
will know more when older.” 

As the trial progressed, all of the experts called 
by the government, and several of those who had 
been called by the defense, but had become con- 
vinced that their first impressions were wrong, tes- 
tified to their belief that the accused was not in- 
sane at the time he shot the President ; but was in 
a state of natural depravity, inherited and acquired. 
And other of the experts called by the defense — 
and among them the most competent and influential 
of them all — would have so testified, and thus ren- 
dered the professional testimony practically harmo- 
nious, had the prosecuting attorney adopted them as 
government witnesses, as they evidently expected 
him to. These men were sincere, and entitled to 
consideration. At whose instigation they were so 
decidedly “snubbed” by the prosecuting attorney, 
as they were, Dr. Clifford did not tell us, if he 
knew himself. If the prosecuting attorney’s medi- 
cal adviser suggested such treatment of profes- 
sional brethren of respectability, it was bad advice, 


164 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


unworthy of so able and distinguished a man. At 
least such was Dr. Clifford’s opinion. 

The great trial was approaching its end. Many 
persons believe that the world will come to an end. 
Dr. Clifford and myself had been present all day, 
as usual ; and had listened to the testimony of the 
distinguished confidential adviser of the govern- 
ment. We had but just reached our hotel when 
the Doctor’s sister came into the parlor, still bon- 
neted and gloved — flushed with exercise and ex- 
citement — and’ exclaimed: “I have been to the 
‘circus’ too! Did you-all see me there? O, I do 
think Dr. Blank’s testimony was perfectly splendid ! 
Isn’t he perfectly magnificent? He believes in 
calling things by their right names, and holding 
criminals responsible for their crimes ! I like that 
kind of a man. There is none of your ‘ moral 
insanity’ nonsense about him! Did you hear him 
say: 'A kleptomaniac is only a common thief? 
And that a dipsomaniac is nothing but a drunkard !’ 
And all that kind of thing? That people don’t 
inherit insanity, nor moral depravity; but acquire 
them by vicious practices, for the most part? I am 
glad there is one man in this country, and a doctor 
at that, who is not afraid to stand up for the good 
old-fashioned truth about morals, and human re- 
sponsibility ! . . . And did you see that mis- 

erable creature — how he did act! Talk about his 
being insane ! I never saw a more cruel, unpity- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 1 65 

ing, conscienceless, remorseless, face on any human 
being in my life ! Any body would know that he 
was a criminal, no matter where met! He is not a 
fool, either. He knows more than the lawyer 
does, who is trying to defend him. And his sister 
— did you see her? They look alike. I heard a 
gentleman sitting near me ask another — one of 
your experts, I believe — what he thought of Gui- 
teau’s sister? And what do you think he said? 
He said he would rather be in Guiteau’s place to- 
day than to be his brother-in-law! O, such a 
family ! Did you hear the testimony about them 
all? Such a creature pretending to be inspired! 
The idea ! I have no patience with such profane 
nonsense !” 

“That reminds me,” I said, “of what I heard to- 
day, outside the court-house, near the entrance. 
A goodly number of darkies had collected about 
the front steps, discussing the merits of the case 
in their peculiar way. One darky said : ‘ Hit 

mout uv bin dat de Lord ’spired Mr. Guiteau to 
’move de Preserdint; hit mout uv bin ! De Lord 
kin do anything He’s er mind ter!’ ‘Ob cose 
He kin; ob cose,’ said another darky ; ‘and dat ’s 
de berry reesin why I knows de Lord did n’t hab 
nuthin to do with it! Ef de Lord’s gwine ter kill 
a man — de Preserdint er any body else — He haint 
got to ’spire nobody. He don’t want no pistil. 
All He’s got ter do is jes ter wink at him, and 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


1 66 

dah he is! De Lord don’t want no pistil, nary 
time !’ ” 

“ Quite a philosophical darky,” said Dr. Clifford. 
“But not well instructed concerning the Divine 
Providence, whose ways are mysterious, and past 
.finding out !” 

“ I do not see the drift of your thought,” said 
Miss Clifford — looking toward her brother inquir- 
ingly. 

“ I was thinking,” said the Doctor, “ if the uni- 
verse was created, and is governed by, an individual 
of infinite power and intelligence ; who was, and is, 
and ever will be, design and cause and end, of all 
things : it is difficult to escape, logically, from Gui- 
teau’s affirmation, that ‘the removal of the Presi- 
dent was the act of God.’ If so, why should this 
miserable wretch who was but the helpless instru- 
ment of almighty power, be held responsible, and 
punished for the act?” 

“ I do not see that the affirmation of an over- 
ruling providence as related to human conduct — 
however absolute — ” said Miss Clifford, “ is any 
more embarrassing, logically considered, as affect- 
ing responsibility, than is your affirmation of auto- 
matic cerebration! If brains think — as you say 
they do — by virtue of their own capabilities and 
activities ; and human feeling, thought, and action, 
are but manifestations of brain functions performed ; 
influenced only by environments to which brain 
capabilities are responsive : do we not find our- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


167 


selves in the same dilemma respecting moral re- 
sponsibility? Brains do not make themselves. 
Men do not make their own environments. You 
say, in fact, that men are not ‘made,’ but ‘grow.’ 
Think of it! Upon what foundation then does 
justice build her temple, or responsibility rest?” 

“At it again !” said the Doctor. “ It is useless for 
us to try to reconcile the affirmation of free-will 
and consequent moral responsibility, with that of 
absolutism, foreknowledge, and design, on the part 
of God ; or of automatism on the part of brains. 
It is waste of time and energy to do so. One or 
the other ; perhaps all three, of the predicates are 
false. Whatever proposition is not reconcilable 
with well-established facts, is, necessarily, false : as 
all truths are harmonious when properly adjusted. 
There are but two methods of escape from the 
embarrassment of logic, or reason, in disposing of 
these questions. Swedenborg reconciled old bar- 
baric notions of hell, as the future abode of by far 
the greater portion of mankind, with modern ideas 
of the paternal, and kindly character of God, by 
making the ‘ hells ’ agreeable to all such persons as 
by reason of their natural delights as men, gravi- 
tate into them, as spiritual men — however horrible 
they may appear when seen in the light of heaven. 
It was very sweet of Swedenborg to do so. So 
we can reconcile ideas of responsibility with no- 
tions of absolutism, or — ” 

“Infidelity! Atheism! Always the same con- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


1 68 

elusion!” said Miss Clifford. “God has not left 
mankind ignorant of his requirements ! He has 
given us His* word for instruction, and implanted 
in every man’s breast, a monitor and guide.” 

“ But the word to which you refer,” said the 
Doctor, “has been given to but few men as com- 
pared to the whole number living ; and the guide, 
of which you speak — meaning conscience — is a 
matter of education, and leads in many different 
directions, with equal pretense of infallibility. No 
two persons entertain the same particular no- 
tions of right and wrong spontaneously. No two 
religious sects — Christian or Pagan — do. The 
history of Christianity from the apostolic age to 
the present time, claiming special enlightenment 
from the ‘ word ’ and to be governed by cpnscience, 
is a history of dissensions and persecution for con- 
science sake, pitiless, and unrelenting — in short, a 
history of human conduct actuated by the baser, 
rather than the nobler, characteristics of human 
nature. Society can not afford to measure respon- 
sibility by any standard of knowledge, or con- 
science, yet devised.” 

“ By what standard may it be measured, then — 
if any ?” I asked ; to relieve Miss Clifford from 
discussion, rather than to learn the Doctor’s views 
of the subject. 

“ By the standard of authority ! ” said the Doctor. 
“Authority formulated as law and enforcible by 
penalty. There can be no other rational standard.” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 1 69 

“In Other words,” • said Miss Clifford, “the 
standard of might, without reference to right! ” 

“ Law, responsibility, and penalty, which spring 
spontaneously and inevitably from human needs — 
however they may appear when vievv^ed from an 
elevated position of transcendental philosophy — 
correspond to and reflect such needs more accurately 
than is indicated by appearances,” said the Doctor. 
“The necessities of society are, in fact, neither uni- 
form nor persistent. They fluctuate with social 
fluctuations, while in transit from simpler to more 
complex conditions ; ranging all the way from 
primitive family, or tribal, relations of savage 
states, to the complex nationalities of civilization. 
And it so happens — if any thing may be said to 
‘ happen’ — that the bringing forth of this trinity — 
law-responsibility-penalty — not only quickens the 
germs of morality, but contributes to conditions 
essential to their growth.” 

“ By which happy philosophy,” said Miss Clifford, 
“I presume to say, you confirm yourself in the 
belief that ‘whatever is, is right.’ ” 

“ I am confirmed in the belief that whatever ap- 
pearances may indicate to superficial observers, the 
general trend of human growth is toward better- 
ment. I do not believe in absolute right nor abso- 
lute wrong. Absolute bad nor absolute good. 
Right and wrong, good and bad, are but different 
aspects of the same subject. I do believe, at the 
same time, in rightness and wrongness, as relative 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


I 70 

terms, expressing consciousness of relative condi- 
tions — not of two things, but of the same thing.” 

“Which is to say that you do not believe there 
is either a God or a Devil,” said Miss Clifford. 

“ Have it your own way, sister mine,” said Dr. 
Clifford. “As a mythopoeic personification of all 
that we^do not know — the sum total of human ig- 
norance — an indispensable hypothesis responsive 
to human needs in the earlier stages of human 
development — I believe in God. But as a corporeal 
being, of whatever dimensions or attributes con- 
cealing his person from mankind — making it fatal 
for any one to look upon his face — yet with whose 
habits, thoughts, and purposes men presume to be 
familiar ; whose own conduct and happiness can be 
influenced by, and is dependent upon, the conduct 
of such insignificant and ephemeral beings as we 
are — I can not form a mental concept that satisfies 
my natural sense of reverence and awe, when 
grasping at the infinite — the all-not-me of the 
universe.” 

“ If there is no personal God,” said Miss Clif- 
ford, “ to what are men responsible beyond the 
jurisdiction of law ; on the high seas ; or the 
western plains ? ” 

“Were but one man there, he would not be re- 
sponsible to any body or thing,” said Dr. Clifford. 
“If there were two or ten, enough to constitute 
society, law w^ould soon be born, responsive to all 


THE CLIFFORDS. I7I 

necessities, and responsibility and penalty would be 
instantly evolved from the same matrix.” 

“ That reminds me of an incident that occurred 
in the State Hospital for the Insane, of which 1 had 
charge,” I said. “An Irish lunatic entertained a 
delusion that Father Bessonius was God. The 
good priest was sent for, and informed of Pat’s de- 
lusion respecting himself. The priest told Pat that 
he was mistaken about his being God. That he 
was but a poor dying mortal like himself — just a 
common parish priest. After the priest left, the 
Irishman was asked : ‘What do you think now 
about Father Bessonius being God ? ’ ‘What do 
I think ?’ said Pat, ‘ I think that he is God. He was 
trying to deceive me ; but he couldn’t do it.’ ‘What ! 
would God tell a lie ? ’ Pat was asked. ‘And why 
not to be sure ? He has no one but himself to be 
responsible to ! ’ ” said Pat. 

“Were there but one man in existence,” said 
Miss Clifford, “ his responsibility to God would be 
the same that it is now. Was not Adam held re- 
sponsible before any other man was born ? ” 

“ Were God a person, a sort of fellow-being, 
but of great superiority, and he were dependent 
upon, even one man, for happiness or sustenance, 
he would, most assuredly, make laws for the gov- 
ernment of that man, and enforce them,” said 
Dr. Clifford. 

“Whether the man had capacity or knowledge 


172 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


sufficient to comprehend such laws, or not ? ” I 
asked. 

“Ignorance would not exempt him from penalty, 
although withholding him from obedience,” said the 
Doctor. English courts — British and American — 
presume all persons to be familiar with the provis- 
ions of the law — excepting only infants, idiots, and 
the insane — and capable of obeying them. And 
this is supposed to be in accordance with God’s 
laws.; only a little more lenient toward infants, and 
the insane, perhaps. It will be held by this court 
now trying Guiteau, that, if the accused, by reason 
of insanity, did not know that he was doing wrong 
when he shot the President ; did not know that his 
act was in violation of law because of mental disa- 
bility ; or could not, by reason of his infirmity, re- 
sist the perpetration of the act, he was not re- 
sponsible for the crime. The necessities of so- 
ciety, however, will not be satisfied thereby. It is 
too humane for society in its present state of 
feeling.” 

“But who is to decide the question of knowl- 
edge, or capability of resistance?” said Miss Clif- 
ford. “Take his word for it? — or the opinions of 
you-all doctors, and experts? ” 

“The jury has to decide all such questions,” 
said the Doctor. 

“ The jury ! ” exclaimed Miss Clifford ; and then 
laughed immoderately. “ The jury ! Twelve men 
selected from twelve hundred, because of superior 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


T73 


qualifications of ignorance and stupidity — having 
never heard of, or expressed an opinion respecting 
the assassination of the President! Talk about 
justice being blind! idiotic, as well! That is, if 
an American jury, in a trial for murder, represents 
justice.” 

“It is rather farcical, sometimes,” I said — “jury 
trials of criminal cases. I remember my first ex- 
perience as an expert, in a trial for murder of a 
man of whose insanity I had not a shadow of a 
doubt. The sheriff’s force had been occupied three 
days in securing twelve men sufficiently stupid to 
serve as jurors. Three of them admitted, on oath, 
that they did not know the name of the township 
in which they were born, and had lived all their 
lives. Think of such a class to Instruct in psycho- 
logical medicine ! ” 

“You convinced the jury of the man’s insanity, 
did you not? ” asked Miss Clifford, rather ironically, 
I thought. 

“ I tried to,” said I, “ being thoroughly convinced 
of it myself, and feeling an atmosphere of public 
sentiment extremely hostile to the accused filling 
the court-room. But the testimony of an old one- 
eyed lout of an under-sheriff, or jailor, who said 
that he had watched the prisoner for weeks in jail, 
and ‘ Know’d he warnt any more crazy than you 
are, jedge,’ was more satisfactory to the jury, and 
the people, than was mine. So the poor wretch 
was convicted, and sent to state’s prison for life. 


174 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


The term, however, proved to be a short one, as 
he died in prison within a year of the brain-disease 
diagnosed.” 

“ Expert testimony in cases of insanity never 
has much influence with a jury, or with judges 
either, for that matter,” said Dr. Clifford. 

“ Of what value,” I inquired, “ is testimony that 
is above comprehension of the party to whom it is 
addressed, in any case? In cases of importance, 
involving questions of life or death — when the plea 
of insanity is instituted in behalf of the accused — 
should not the question of insanity be submitted to 
a special jury of persons competent to appreciate 
the testimony of experts, employed — ^not by the 
attorneys in the case — but by the court ? ” 

“ That would seem to be a rational proceeding,” 
said Dr. Clifford. “ But I doubt if the necessities 
of society would be better responded to thereby, 
than is now the case. An insane criminal is no 
more entitled to liberty to do as he pleases, if an- 
noying, or dangerous, to himself or to community, 
than has any other man of similar characteristics — 
ordinary criminals, for example ! I have seldom 
seen an instance, in which the verdict of a jury, to 
which the plea of insanity was submitted — and I 
have been interested in a good many such cases — 
was in accordance with the merits of the case. 
Yet I do not know that the interests of society 
would have been as well subserved by different 
verdicts. I think our statutes should be amended 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


175 


SO as to more closely represent the needs of society 
than they do, in one or two respects. For instance : 
all persons acquitted of criminality because of in- 
sanity, should be committed to an asylum for the 
custody of insane criminals, for life ; and juries 
should be authorized to find in accordance with the 
unwritten law of society, in cases of homicide insti- 
gated by certain unspeakable provocations that are 
held by almost common consent, to justify it. Were 
this done, the plea of insanity, in criminal cases, 
would be less frequently, and never fictitiously, in- 
stituted.” 

“ If human consciousness is a quality of matter 
when organized as brain ; and all mental manifesta- 
tions, including actions, are but the responses of 
consciousness to environments, or excitations ; must 
we not infer,” I said, “that similar feelings, thoughts, 
and actions, reflect similar conditions of conscious- 
ness — hence of brain — whether impaired by disease, 
or defective by reason of natural causes affecting 
organization, of strictly physiological character? 
And if so, why should the laws discriminate in 
favor of the one, and not of the other ? The crim- 
inal is no more responsible for his defective brain, 
than the insane man is for his diseased organ! 
Do the necessities of society require that they 
should be treated differently?” 

“The necessities of society require only what- 
ever may be essential to its existence and prosper- 
ity,” said Dr. Clifford. “It demands protection 


176 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


from the defective, and depraved, whether diseased, 
or naturally vicious. It punishes the vicious be- 
cause they are amenable to discipline and fear ; 
like other healthy animals of low mental capabili- 
ties ; and refrains from punishing the insane be- 
cause they are not restrained by fear, nor amenable 
to instruction. Punishment of the insane is, there- 
fore, needless cruelty, inasmuch as society can pro- 
tect itself from them by other methods.” 


the CLIFFORDS. 


177 


CHAPTER VIII. 


Displacement of error — Intellectual freedom— Devotion to Truth- 
Beneficence of science not limited —Evolution of mind in man — 
Public morality and private virtue of the age contrasted — All 
religions natural — Fashion — Reflections— Another dream. 

'‘I am not an iconoclast, nor a propagandist,” 
said Dr. Clifford, as we seated ourselves in Miss 
Clifford’s parlor after a sumptuous dinner. “ I 
would not, if I could, destroy any one’s faith in 
things supernatural, otherwise than by displacing 
erroneous ideas, without violence, by more ra- 
tional, and comprehensive, perception, and inter- 
pretation, of facts. A process by which any ap- 
parent loss on one hand is compensated, amply, by 
gain on the other.” 

“ How can any one be compensated for loss of 
faith in God and immortality? I should like to 
know!” said Miss Clifford. “What would the 
world be without religion?” 

“An unimaginable condition!” said the Doctor. 
“ Man is by nature, a religious being. But religion 
assumes many and variable aspects. Between that 
form of religion which springs from fear of the in- 
visible — common to mankind — and that which is 
based upon entire confidence in the general benefi- 
cence of natural processions, irrespective of indi^ 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


178 

vidual experience — to which but few persons have 
as yet attained — or are capable of enjoying — there 
is a wide, and well-marked difference.” 

“Enjoying!” exclaimed Miss Clifford. “What 
possible enjoyment can there be derived from such 
a false pretense of religion ? ” 

“The enjoyment of an indescribable, though 
voluminous sense of intellectual freedom, that is 
otherwise unattainable,” said the Doctor. 

“The enjoyment which criminals feel when they 
think to have escaped the righteous indignation 
of offended justice, by an evasion of the law,” 
said Miss Clifford. “ But they will find themselves 
mistaken, after all.” 

“Therein you are mistaken,” said the Doctor. 
“ So far from thinking to escape justice ; such per- 
sons recognize the fact that justice sits enthroned in 
every molecule of their beings, from which there is 
no escape! Not even by bribery, or prayers! 
They do right and, avoid wrong, because they 
recognize the fact that righteousness contributes to, 
and wrongness detracts from, the happiness of man- 
kind. And, few as they are — comparatively — 
their influence has been — and is being — felt in a 
general betterment of the world’s affairs.” 

“Admitting the proposition that men may attain 
to a degree of confidence in the beneficence of 
natural processes, that relieves them from fear 
of the invisible — as you say they do — ” said Miss 
Clifford, “do they not, at the same time, deprive 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


179 


themselves of the stimulating and sustaining pres- 
ence of hope and expectation, respecting the fu- 
ture ; inseparable from the only true religion?” 

“ Hope and expectation have been, and are, 
important factors in the problems of human pro- 
gress, happiness, existence — affecting nearly all the 
great affairs of life. But to one who has outgrown 
— as many have — the mythopoeic stage of human 
development : confidence in the fact that the un- 
known conceals nothing inconsistent with that 
which is known : furnishes a more substantial basis 
for anticipation, than the figments woven by hope 
and expectation respecting a future life,” said the 
Doctor. ‘‘ Nor are men thus religious,” continued 
the Doctor, “ less devout than others who may bow 
their heads and bend their knees to hypothetic 
embodiments of the invisible ; although their devo- 
tion may be differently expressed, and signify very 
different states of feeling.” 

“Devotion to what?” inquired Miss Clifford. 
“Devotion implies an object for its exercise: as 
your Irish lunatic’s idea of responsibility required 
somebody to be responsible to. Devotion to what ?” 

“Devotion to truth!” said the Doctor, “and 
emancipation of humanity from the bondage of 
fear!” 

“ Devotion to truth,” said Miss Clifford, “exem- 
plified by undermining the foundation of the temple 
of truth ! Emancipating mankind from the bond- 
age of fear by surrounding them with a wall of 


i8o 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


impenetrable darkness ! I do not understand such 
inconsistency !” 

“Of course you can not,” said the Doctor. “We 
see things in such different lights. Clouds of 
supernaturalism overshadow every thing you look 
upon. The light of science startles and bewilders 
you. You will have to become accustomed to its 
brilliancy before judging of its merits.” 

“The inference of imputed ignorance and inca- 
pability, as applied to myself, does not disturb, nor 
offend me,” said Miss Clifford. “ I take it as be- 
longing to the egotism of science, and accept it as 
such. And at my age you can not expect me to 
grow much in those essential qualities. Human 
growth is very slow ; is it not ? — according to your 
philosophy.” 

“ From prehuman, through prehistoric, to pres- 
ent conditions of the highest intellectual attain- 
ment reached by individual men, is, unquestion- 
ably, a long way ; requiring unacountable ages for 
its growth,” said the Doctor. 

“ How do you know?” said Miss Clifford. “ Is 
there no limit to the presumption of science?” 

“We know,” said the Doctor, “ from trustworthy 
evidence of advancement within the historic period 
of the race ; and from durable memorials of human 
progress or growth, through long ages of pre- 
historic existence : known to be long, by geological 
and other associated evidence. We have, also, the 
testimony of observation, for some thousands of 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


l8l 


years, of the development of peoples still in pre- 
historic conditions: and-oi individuals of the more 
advanced types of mankind, by which the inference 
is justified.” 

“ I do not see what testimony is to be derived 
from the development of an individual,” said Miss 
Clifford. “ The life of an individual is less than a 
century ! How much more rational to accept the 
facts respecting man’s creation, and subsequent 
history, as set forth in the word of God, his 
Creator ! ” 

“ The developmental history of an individual 
man,” said Dr. Clifford, “illustrates the history of 
the race. Beginning at the intellectual zero of in- 
fancy or birth, the whole process is one of growth 
— the building up of material structures capable of 
performing function — steadily increasing in com- 
plexity until certain limitations are reached in every 
given instance. The first psychic manifestation of 
a man-child, after birth, is one common to animals 
— and some, if not all vegetables — consciousness. 
From conditions of simple consciousness to the far 
more complex conditions of self consciousness — by 
which man is conspicuously distinguished from 
lower animals — requires, for the man-child, under 
the most favorable circumstances, several years of 
growth. The same process, pertaining to the 
growth of the race-^rom prehuman to human 
conditions, we have reason to believe, required as 
many ages of indefinite duration. From self- 


i 82 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


consciousness — implying growth through many de- 
grees of increasing complexity and capability to 
the widely distinguishing characteristics of imagina- 
tion and reflection— requires for full attainment by 
individuals, now, with all the increasing velocity of 
acquired momentum, from fifteen to twenty-five 
years. For the corresponding growth of the race : 
as many thousand, if not more. That the velocity 
or rapidity of growth has increased with time, is 
inferred from the fact that greater intellectual ad- 
vancement has been accomplished in the last three 
centuries than in all the previous historic period. 
More within the last fifty years than in the previous 
three hundred.” 

“Advanced! How? In what respects,” said 
Miss Clifford. 

“ By the discovery and diffusion of useful knowl- 
edge,” said the Doctor. “The development and 
application to the affairs of life, of useful arts ; 
mitigating thereby the old, irrepressible ‘ struggle 
for existence,’ incident to ignorance and incom- 
petency.” 

“ Temporary and material considerations, al- 
ways ! ” said Miss Clifford. “ Momentary contri- 
butions to the prosperity of the wicked ! — by which 
the human heart is tempted and corrupted ! What, 
indeed, ‘shall it profit a man to gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul ?-’ ” 

“Are ignorance and poverty essential to salva- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


183 

tion ? ” inquired the Doctor. “If they are: the 
Christian world is in great danger of being lost ! ” 

“ Ignorance, or rejection as false, of such pre- 
tended knowledge as discredits the word of God ; 
and the miraculous birth and resurrection of Jesus, 
the Christ, is essential to salvation,” said Miss 
Clifford. “And we have authority for belief that it 
is hard for a rich man — rich in worldly goods, but 
poor in spiritual treasure — to enter the kingdom of 
heaven.” 

“Human conduct has but little to do with the 
acquisition of ‘spiritual treasure,’ has it not? All 
that’s essential to the accumulation of that kind of 
wealth is to believe right, is it not?” asked the 
Doctor, rather quizzically. 

“ Why do you ask such foolish questions ? ” was 
the reply. 

“I was thinking,” said the Doctor, “of the 
general improvement of human conduct, concom- 
itant with the increase of that kind of knowledge 
that you say one must be ignorant of or deny, in 
order to be saved.” 

“ Was there ever a time in the history of the 
world,” said Miss Clifford, “ when public morality 
and private virtue were at lower ebb than now! 
Think of legislators elected by fraud ; senators of 
the United States in purchased seats; cities ruled 
by unscrupulous ‘bosses,’ for personal ends; rail- 
roads ‘wrecked,’ and banks ‘looted’ by officials; 
and the poor systematically robbed by soulless cor- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


184 

porations : beside the innumerable scandals in high 
and low society because of vulgar crimes too mean 
to mention ! Is this not a shameful age, and wicked 
beyond comparison ? ” 

“My sister has forgotten that she ever read his- 
tory,” said the Doctor. “ Not that she is so old ! ” 
he added, laughingly ; “ but she has permitted spir- 
itual affairs to crowd worldly matters out of mem- 
ory. She does not now recall what she may have 
once known of the public morals and private virtue 
of ancient Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Pho- 
necian, Grecian — kings, courtiers, and peoples. 
She has forgotten, even, the morality and virtue of 
the kings of Israel and Judah, and their followers, 
as set forth in Hebrew chronicles. She never read 
Suetonius’ lives of the twelve Caesars. Nor has she 
any recollection of the reputation of the emperors, 
kings, and nobility of European states during the 
‘ dark ages ’ of the Christian era ; nor of the con- 
dition of the European peoples — including popes 
and priests — at the time Luther sounded the slogan 
of reform. The history of public morality and pri- 
vate virtue of the French people — especially of 
those who ‘ set the fashions ’ for the rest of the 
world, culminating in the Revolution of ’93, and the 
‘ Reign of Terror’ — has entirely escaped her mem- 
ory. British morals and virtue, as illustrated by 
the Plantagenets — to go no further back — the Tu- 
dors, Stuarts, and Hanoverian kings, and their 
courts, imitated by the nobility, and common peo- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 1 85 

pie, with all their despotism, treachery, cruelty, and 
licentiousness, she has not — of late, at least — con- 
sidered. She would not believe, if told, that the 
separation of the British from the Roman church 
was compulsory — effected by that old Blue-beard, 
King Henry VIII, because the pope would not con- 
sent to the cruel divorcement of his legal and loyal 
wife ! Nor that many of the present nobility of 
England of the highest grade are descendants of 
mistresses, and illegitimate children of members of 
royal families, ennobled and estated by royal favor 
at the expense of the people. All of which, when 
remembered, and considered philosophically, proves 
the affirmation that in no other respects have the 
conditions of mankind been more conspicuously 
bettered by the evolution of science than in a gen- 
eral improvement of public morals and private 
virtue. The fact is, also, physiologically demon- 
strable. Ethical perceptions, to which morality is 
sequential, belong to the later, and higher, ranges 
of intellectual development — the upper stories of 
mental capability — of but comparatively modern 
construction, and need not be looked for much 
lower down in the scale of general intelligence.” 

“Of the intelligence of prehistoric man, we have 
only the evidence of such meager memorials of 
himself as have been found the world over, indi- 
cating but little more than is manifested by other 
animals of the higher orders. As we approach the 
historic period, we may infer something of his in- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


I 86 

tellectual state, or capacity, by the myths and le- 
gends which preface early history, evidently de- 
rived from legendary-lore, of no one knows what 
age, or how long descent. Such, for example, as 
the wonderful prelude to Hebrew history — called 
the Book of Genesis : indicating recognitions of 
despotic power, on the part of a personification of 
the Invisible ; and the domination of human pas- 
sions, in all the affairs of life — whether on the part 
of man or God — ’’ 

“O, brother! brother!” again exclaimed Miss 
Clifford; “spare me from such profanity! I shall 
never become used to it ! I can not understand it ! ” 

“Of course, you can not understand it,” said the 
Doctor ; “ a fact that I am constantly forgetful of. No 
one can who dwells within the dark shadow of the 
supernatural, and accepts the testimony of ancient 
ignorance and credulity as superhuman, and infalli- 
ble ; but refuses to consider the evidence of facts 
intelligently interpreted! Nor can such person 
understand how another, who may have outgrown 
the childish notions of infantile conditions, can 
speak of them plainly, and truthfully, without pro- 
fanity of feeling, or intent to bruise the sensibilities 
of persons entertaining them. They know but 
little of the force, or consequence, of human growth 
who can not distinguish nineteenth-century, from 
even seventeenth-century ideas! Like St. Paul: 
when I was a child, I thought, believed, and spoke 
as a child ; but, when I became a man, I put away 


THE CLIFFORDS. 1 87 

childish notions. That is all there is of profanity 
in my statements ! ” 

“ Would that you were more like St. Paul,” 
said Miss Clifford. 

“Yes, he was a man of talent, learning, and 
the ‘courage of convictions! ’ ” said the Doctor. 
“He was far superior to the regular Disciples of 
Jesus, who never sympathized with, or fully ap- 
proved his apostolic pretensions or teaching. But 
it was not to have been expected of ignorant Jew 
fishermen that they should believe for a moment 
that Jehovah could be interested in the welfare of 
any other people than the descendants of Abraham. 
Even Peter was doubtful of Paul’s teaching respect- 
ing meat of a certain kind — whether it might be 
eaten by Christians — and other things, until after he 
had a vision, showing him how narrow and bigoted 
his ideas had been.” 

“Almost any one would have convictions, would 
he not,” I said, “were he to meet such evidence 
as Paul did on his way to Damascus? ” 

“ Yes,” said the Doctor. “Your man Payne had, 
when he chopped his leg off, in obedience to the 
voice, as he supposed, of God. But Paul was a 
man of convictions and courage, before as well as 
after his ‘ heavenly vision.’ His conversion to 
Christianity did not change his hnman character- 
istics. He had persecuted the followers of Jesus 
among the Jews with the same dauntless courage, 
energy, and zeal, that characterized his missionary 


i88 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


work as a Christian among the Gentiles. His per- 
ceptions of duty and the direction of his activities 
were changed, but not the real man.” 

“Henry Ward Beecher claimed that Paul, much 
to his credit, was an evolutionist. Do you think he 
was?” I asked. 

“ Every intelligent man is — consciously, or other- 
wise — who observes Nature closely and- — thinks ! ’ 
said the Doctor. “ Paul observed the evolution of 
living bodies from minute particles of organized 
matter ; watched their growth, fruition, and dissolu- 
tion ; and generalized a principle, which he applied 
to human existence — and inferred the evolution of 
a spiritual body from a natural body undergoing 
dissolution ; which became to him the only rational 
theory of a resurrection and spiritual existence. 
He had but a glimpse, however, of the great fact ; 
and, like modern theologians, had to reconcile the 
fact with preconceived notions of spiritual existence. 
This necessity, indeed, of maintaining ancient no- 
tions respecting the supernatural, is the only excuse 
that religion can offer for its opposition to the 
teachings of science.” 

“An ample excuse, on the part of religion/’ said 
Miss Clifford. “ But science has no excuse — ex- 
cept its league with the devil — for its assaults upon 
religion.” 

“You mistake the animus of science altogether,” 
said the Doctor. “ Science has no animosity toward 
religion. It assails the supernatural as light assails 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


darkness : without hostility ; however antagonistic 
and dispersing its influence. Science recognizes 
religion as natural. As an inevitable response to 
human needs ; varying with changing conditions 
and consequent necessities occurring all along the 
line of human development ; essential to man’s 
happiness within certain limitations of growth — 
beyond which but small numbers have yet reached. 
It may have repressed human growth : but if so, 
not without its usefulness.” 

“Religion, natural! A response of Nature to 
human needs ! ” exclaimed Miss Clifford. “Are 
you losing your mind, my dear brother! How can 
you suggest even the possibility of so marvelous a 
light as that of revealed religion emanating from 
the darkness of Nature ! I am both surprised by 
and alarmed for you ! 

“Yet it is true,” said the Doctor. “Religion is 
as natural — as much a part of nature — as love is, 
or hate, or any other passion or condition of human 
consciousness. It is purely, as they all are, a mat- 
ter of feeling in a state of activity excited by 
sensuous influence pertaining to human conditions 
representing certain necessities. When religious 
feeling is active, the subject is pious. When inactive 
the subject may be irreligious and even profane. 
Witness the poor ignorant sailor, who is religious 
only when excited by impending danger ! Also, 
the ‘back-slider,’ whose religiousness disappears 
with the subsidence of excitement incident to what 


190 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


is called a ‘ religious revival!’ Religious dogmas 
are intellectual, and may be entertained as beliefs 
in the absence of religion proper. But no man 
ever reasoned himself into a state of religious 
experience'. Men are not so constructed.” 

“ Is that why there are so many more pious women 
than there are religious men ? ” I inquired, spon- 
taneously. “Or is not the inference justified by 
facts?” 

“The inference is not irrational,” said the 
Doctor. “ Men are as unreasonably credulous, 
and more profoundly moved, when under excite- 
ment — religious, or other — than are women. But 
as a rule — under ordinary circumstances — they are 
much less emotional ; and correspondingly less 
credulous.” 

“And correspondingly less conscientious, and 
trustworthy, in a moral sense, than women ! are 
they not?” I asked. 

“ Thank you 1” said Miss Clifford, with a gracious 
inclination of her head, and a glance of recogni- 
tion, that well repaid me for so trivial a compliment 
to the sex. 

“ Women are, as a sex, more sensitively, but 
not more firmly, conscientious than are men!” said 
the Doctor. “ Individually — I am told — women 
sink to lower depths of depravity than men ever 
reach. But having no personal knowledge of the 
fact, I have always thought of the charge as be- 
longing to a species of masculine slander, of which 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


I9I 

egotistic men have always been guilty. I doubt if 
it is justifiable by facts, of nature or experience.” 

“And yet,” I said, “It is a common assertion 
that men are more charitable toward women who 
sin, than women are toward sinners of their own 

y y 

sex. 

“Which, in the light of human obligation, and 
unquestioning obedience to the commands of God, 
verifies the affirmation that women are more con- 
scientious than men!” said Miss Clifford, triumph- 
antly. “ It is said reproachfully, by men ; but 
should be accepted as complimentary, by women. 
There was no excuse for Eve ; there is none for 
any woman who listens to a liar, or yields to temp- 
tation to do that which she knows to be wrong!” 

“ While sin may not, of itself, be excusable ; the 
sinful may often be entitled to compassion,” said 
the Doctor. “ The liars to whom the erring listen 
are their own feelings, wishes, anticipations — stim- 
ulated, it may be, into states of activity by external 
circumstances. Some persons suffer greater temp- 
tations than others, because of their constitutional 
proclivities. Some are more capable of resistance 
than others, for similar reasons. Every loving 
mother thinks some other boy is leading her boy 
astray, by temptation, example, and persuasion — 
to steal watermellons, or go fishing on Sunday, for 
instance — when her own boy may be strongly in- 
clined to do such naughty things himself. You re- 
member the Robinson boys ! how our mother al- 


92 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


ways felt that they were corrupting my morals ! 
when as a matter of fact, I was the recognized 
leader of a squad of ‘ enterprising ’ boys — having 
really a more decided genius for ‘ innocent mis- 
chief’ than any of the rest of them? How unap- 
preciative children are of mothers!” 

“Yes, I remember,” said Miss Clifford; “and I 
think that father recognized your ‘genius,’ as I 
once heard him say to mother — much to my con- 
sternation — ‘ I am afraid that boy of yours will 
come to some bad end!’ Poor dear mother! I 
wonder what she thinks of you now ! The Robin- 
son boys — such as lived to manhood — all became 
good Methodists: one of them a preacher: and 
here you-all are — well — capable of much mischief 
yet, I fear!” 

“ If the natural tendency of mankind is to do 
evil, and that continually,” I said, “with suggestion 
and persuasion to do as impelled ever present : I 
do not understand why the world is not worse than 
it is ; or that human progression has not always 
been — with increasing velocity— downward. From 
bad to worse, instead of better!” 

“ The natural tendency of mankind is to do well, 
not ill,” said the Doctor. “Evil and good are 
only recognizable as such by contrast. Men do 
evil in ignorance of that which is better. As man 
grows, intellectually, he improves morally, because 
of increased capability to contrast good and evil, 
and to conform conduct with his better perceptions. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


193 


Or, to state the matter more simply : The real 
tendency of human nature is to do that which 
promises happiness. That which promises pleas- 
ure to the child, or the savage — would not only 
fail to please — but might pain — the mature, or the 
civilized man. The tendency of the race is to 
grow ; to mature. Hence its progress is, and has 
been, upward, instead of downward.” 

“That may be scientific,” said Miss Clifford, 
“but not in accordance with good religion, or 
sound sense ! I had much rather trust more com- 
mon people, with far less education, for morality, 
than your ‘ advanced thinkers ! ’ The humble have 
always been noted for virtue, while people in high 
places have been notoriously wicked!” 

“You are mistaken, I think,” said the Doctor, 
“ about the virtue of the humble, and the vice of 
the exalted. You exaggerate both. There are 
humble people who are reputed good, because they 
are obedient to authority, or imitative of superiors. 
At the same time there are multitudes of the igno- 
rant and intellectually low, who are characteristic- 
ally vicious. I have never known bad men to be 
both intellectual and educated to a high degree. 
We may differ about what constitutes vice and 
virtue. I limit the application of the terms to the 
conduct of men, by which either themselves or 
their neighbors are injured or benefitted. There 
are many persons in this country who affect superi- 
ority, and figure in what is called ‘good society,’ 


194 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


the bases of whose exaltation consist of wealth, 
alone ; which, of itself, is not the best evidence of 
morality. But there can be no question of the 
fact that the vicious classes of every community 
are neither intellectual nor educated ; as compared 
with the better classes.” 

“Yes, we differ as to what constitutes evidence 
of goodness or evil disposition,” said Miss Clifford. 
“ To me, obedience to the commandments of God, 
as delivered by the church, is the best evidence of 
disposition to do right. You think people so dis- 
posed are simply terrorized by authority, or imita- 
ting superiors!” 

“Not all of them,” said the Doctor. “Still, 
there is more apparent piety that is purely imitative, 
than is generally recognized as such. Man is, in 
fact, an imitative animal: yes, ape-like — I know 
what you thought — and though we have descended 
a long way from prehuman ancestors — -much human 
conduct yet is, strictly speaking, imitative — without 
other motive than to be like other people. Fashion, 
is, indeed, an important factor to be estimated, when 
considering problems of human conduct. We have 
‘fashionable churches,’ you know: fashionable 
preachers ; fashionable doctors ; as well as fashion- 
able milliners, dress-makers and tailors. You may 
never have thought of its significance.” 

“ I do not know that I ever thought of fashion as 
suggestive of any thing but human weakness, 
vanity, or frivolity,” I said. “But old as I am — 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


195 


with no little experience in worldly affairs — I am 
but beginning to realize the fact that but few men 
see objects, or subjects, stereoscopically ; or fail to 
approve, or condemn, whatever is before them, 
upon consideration of the single aspect pre- 
sented. Is not such the habit of mankind, gener- 
ally ?” 

“There are exceptions, only, to the rule,” said 
the Doctor. “And considerations of fashion are 
usually limited to the single feature of dress ; sug- 
gestive, as you say, too often of vanity or weak- 
ness. But even thus limited, fashion has its sig- 
nificance, and uses.” 

“ It suggests nothing to me,” said Miss Clifford, 
“ but a disposition to follow leaders, without much 
regard to consequences.” 

“ It suggests more,” said the Doctor. “ It sug- 
gests, for example, not only a natural impulsion on 
the part of mankind, to imitate ; but to imitate that 
which is regarded, or reputed to be, most admirable. 
It suggests, also, love of admiration ; hence of 
distinction and approbation ; from which spring 
many virtues : circumspection, self respect, and 
general refinement of character. As for its uses : 
but for fashion half the labor and machinery of the 
world might stand idle. No greater disaster could 
befall mankind. Unless, indeed, it were better to 
revert to the ‘ good old days ’ of ancestral igno- 
rance and simplicity. Industry is order. Idleness 
is disorder. Industry is civilization. Idleness is 


196 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


savagery. To be employed — to labor — is a bless- 
ing to mankind, however it may be regarded by 
savages and slaves as a misfortune and a curse.’’ 

“ Which reminds me,” I said, of an Indian chief’s 
opinion of white men, and the use of steam. I 
was standing on the deck of an Upper-Mississippi 
steamboat, by the side of ‘ Hole-in-the-day,’ a dis- 
tinguished Chippeway chief, with whom I had be- 
come acquainted. I called his attention to the 
power of the engine, and its control by the en- 
gineer, and asked him what he thought of it? 
‘ Good for white man,’ he said ; ‘ white man slave — 
has to work ! No good for Ingin ; Ingin free ! Ingin 
no have to work ! ’ But, having always thought of 
‘ the fashions,’ I continued, as pertaining to cos- 
tumes, woman’s especially — as being ‘ set ’ by rather 
disreputable persons, such as the Pompadours, 
or Brummels, of France and England — I do not 
quite appreciate the suggestion that the followers ol 
fashion are moved by impulses to imitate that which 
is reputable, or admirable.” 

“Ornamentation of person, to excite, or increase 
admiration — the chief end of fashionable dress- 
ing” — said the Doctor, “ does not require a very 
high order of moral perception. But it is not true 
that all fashions are designed by persons of the 
class suggested. No matter by whom designed, 
they are not ‘ set ’ until adopted by royalty abroad — 
the highest authority for Europeans — and the ‘ best 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


197 


society ’ in this country, which imitates royalty as 
far as practicable.” 

“ If ornamentation is really the object of fashion 
in dressing,” I said, “it often fails to accomplish 
its purpose, it seems to me. I have sometimes 
thought that women delight in deforming them- 
selves by dress. Fashionable clothing is not al- 
ways artistic, graceful, or becoming to the wearer. 
How do you account for the fact? ” 

“ Ornamention is the chief; but there are other 
ends subserved by fashion, as well. The business 
interests of civilization, the numerous industries 
dependent upon changes of fashion, have to be 
considered. It is not possible to devise improve- 
ments for every change. Nor can any general 
fashion be improving to every individual. A new 
fashion, also, soon becomes so uniform that mis- 
tress can not be distinguished from servant, by her 
‘ style,’ hence loses much of its value as a charac- 
teristic of classes, or of persons, in this country, 
and requires change.” 

“ There are some things which men should, pos- 
itively, be everlastingly silent about,” said Miss 
Clifford. “ One thing is fashion. The dress ques- 
tion, and the ‘ help ’ question, are matters for con- 
sideration by women, exclusively. I forbid you-all 
from ever mentioning either subject, in my pres- 
ence, hereafter ! What do men know about such 
things ? I do not believe that you could tell, now, 
the colors of any two dresses that I have worn this 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


198 

season ; to say nothing of their style ! Nor 
whether I wore a hat or a bonnet the last time we 
rode out together ! Better discuss matters of which 
you have more knowledge.” 

“ I know that you are always well-dressed,” said 
the Doctor, laughingly. “And that I prefer to see 
you in either black or white — according to circum- 
stances. I know, too, that hats — not yours — are 
sometimes monstrous ; sleeves preposterous ; and 
skirts — ‘ hooped ’ — I believe they are called — are 
— well — ‘unspeakable!’ — as Gladstone calls the 
Turks, and Erasmus called the monks of his day. 
Nor can I believe that you would really limit men 
in their discussions to matters about which they 
have knowledge? Were men to be so limited, 
think of what a reign of silence there would be ! — 
if there were no women about.” 

The mental stress of more serious conversation 
having been relieved by terminal pleasantries ; with 
cordial assurances of kindly feeling, and invitations 
for further intercourse, I took leave of my new- 
found friends, in a frame of mind difficult to de- 
scribe, but rather disconcerted than composed. 
Recognizing the fact that these two persons — Doc- 
tor Clifford and his sister — were becoming, had 
become, the whole world to me : or, indeed, two 
worlds, between which I should have, inevitably, to 
make choice : I passed them again and again in 
review; saying to myself, repeatedly: “which?” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 1 99 

Of these two worlds, one of them seemed to me to 
consist of solid, hard, inelastic, sequentially ar- 
ranged, stratified facts ; insensitive, unimpression- 
able, unpromising, indurations ; forming an impene- 
trable crust ; from what and to what, no one could 
tell. An indisputable world — upon the outer sur- 
face of which, I, an animated molecule, conscious 
of existence; but without knowledge of how, or 
wherefore, was being whirled, like a speck of dust 
carried by a cyclone, for a moment, or an hour, 
without apparent object; to be dropped out as in- 
differently as swept in, and become, as before, an 
inanimate reintegrated atom. 

How barren, desolate, dead, dead, dead, the pre- 
sentation ! 

The other seemed to be a world composed of 
mythical imaginations; unsubstantial, aerial, elas- 
tic and expansive as our skies ; now near and now 
afar ; plastic, and responsive to spiritual thought ; 
now appearing as a boundless garden of exquisite 
beauty, and now as many mansions, varying in 
magnificence, but all glorious ; fit dwelling places 
for spiritual inhabitants — angels and men — freed 
forever from all encumbrance and care, yet occu- 
pied and joyful. A world accessible to all human 
beings who adapt themselves to its conditions ; in- 
viting them to become partakers of its boundless 
and enduring hospitality ! What a contrast! Yet, 
again and again, the question — “which?” 

Can one believe without evidence ? 


200 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


One may love without reason — without knowing 
why ! 

That night I dreamed. What a dreamer I have 
been ! I thought myself reclining in an open 
field, contemplating the stars, like an ancient 
Chaldean shepherd on the plains of Shinar; en- 
deavoring to out-read the riddle of the universe. 
As thus I lay, darkness like a drift covered me, 
and filled the canopy above. Not a ray of light 
was visible, “Thus ends all things,” I said or 
thought. Suddenly, while lying thus, endeavoring 
to reconcile myself to the inevitable, something 
luminous — floating, as it were, in the darkness — 
appeared above the horizon, moving toward me. 
As it approached, it assumed the form of a man, 
suspended by a broad belt, like Saturn in his 
rings ; with a brilliant star on his brow, and a 
trumpet in extended hands — all luminous with 
golden yellow light. As the figure passed over me 
I saw that words, instead of sounds issued from 
the trumpet ; luminous words, that fell dissolving in 
the darkness, toward — and some upon — the ground 
beneath. Among others that fell near me, I recog- 
nized the words: Faith! Hope! Immortality! — 
before they touched the earth. But when I 
reached to take them in my hand, from the ground 
whereon they fell, up sprung ghostly forms of per- 
sons long since dead — as I believed — among 
whom I recognized my mother. Bending over me 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


201 


affectionately, as was her wont when living, she 
whispered: “Hesitate no longer! Upon your 
choice depends — not life— but happiness.” 

Thinking to embrace her, I arose, and reaching 
toward her with my hungry arms — awoke ! 

If a man be not convinced by Moses and the 
prophets, what if one from the dead appeal to him ? 


202 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


CHAPTER IX. 

Idealism — Discontent — Autobiographic — V eracitj unrewarded — Re- 
warded — Tired of being rational — Mysticism — An insane soldier’s 
reason for running away from a fight — Human nature persistent — 
Organization despotic, etc. 

Was it a spirit that I saw last night? Was it 
really my mother, or only an appearance — a hallu- 
cination ? How can there be an appearance, with 
nothing to sustain it? Not even a shadow can be 
cast without something objective behind or before 
it ! What is a hallucination, but a condition of 
consciousness constituting perception of apparent 
objects without the interposition of peripheral or- 
gans of sense? The organs of sense are only in- 
struments. It is not the telescope that sees the 
stars ! The organs of sense are merely appendages 
of the supreme, central, organ of consciousness, 
enlarging its scope of observation. And — perhaps 
Dr. Clifford would say — enabling it to correct its 
own errors by evidence from various witnesses ! 
But suppose the witnesses all agree ; and one sees, 
and hears, and feels an object — is that proof of its 
reality ? If so, the objects of our dreams are 
sometimes real ! My old patient in the hospital 
for the insane, both saw his assailants, and felt the 
bones of their heads crash beneath his blows ! 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


203 


But if one’s own senses are all depraved, and un- 
trustworthy — there are other persons, with their 
sense-organs, by which the integrity of our own 
may be tested. No two persons, even if both 
suffer auditory hallucinations at the same moment, 
hear the same words. Nor do things called 
“ real ” appear to different persons without shades 
of difference. How can it be proved that any 
thing is other than an appearance ? Philosophers 
have maintained the affirmation that there is noth- 
ing real ! That man, himself, is but a phenomenal 
being ; and all the world phantasmal ! Sure it is, 
the senses can not be trusted as infallible. O, for 
more knowledge ! Knowledge of all particulars 
synthesized so as to present a general, or univer- 
sal ! Science knows something of the sun, and 
surrounding planets, and infers a universe that is 
infinite from its knowledge of the finite. Science 
knows something of individual consciousness ; 
knows that it is finite and ephemeral. Why not 
infer an infinite and eternal consciousness also ? 
Thus cogitating — a single sun-beam finding its 
way through a pin-hole in my window-curtain, and 
falling on my pillow — I lay awake in bed till a late 
hour. I fell, indeed, into a sort of reminiscent 
reverie; recalling experiences without relevance to 
time or circumstance. I remembered, among other 
things that had not been thought of before for 
years, the fact of having chopped down a small 
“Jerusalem cherry-tree” that my father had pro- 


204 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


cured at some expense and planted in the garden. 
An act, I presume to say, that was in imitation of 
the “ Father of his Country,” when a boy, also ; 
for which I received a memorable “ flicking,” at 
the hand of my conscientious, puritanic mother ; 
instead of being rewarded for my juvenile veracity. 

I thought, too, of another memorable flogging in- 
flicted by my mother, that left deeper impressions 
upon my character than the first. The first men- 
tioned, I mean ; not the first by a good many, ever 
received. Not that my mother was unkind by 
nature. She was far from that. But she believed 
it to be a religious duty to chastise her children 
for every misdemeanor, in accordance with the 
paternal treatment she had herself received when 
a child ! This punishment was memorable, be- 
cause unusually severe, protracted, and unjust ! 
Mother had made for my elder brother — and my- 
self — both mere lads — each a ball, covered with 
leather. I lost mine the first day, at school. 
Henry Gardner found it, in the grass, and con- 
cealed it in his pocket. My brother discovered his 
possession of the ball, and Henry told him, confi- 
dentially, that I had given it to him. Ignorant of 
these facts, I asked mother to make me another 
ball. My brother then told her that I had not lost 
the ball, but had'given it away ! I was very indig- 
nant to think mother would take my brother’s 
word in preference to mine, and became sullenly 
silent. I was then called upon to confess that I 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


205 


had told a lie ! I stubbornly refused — and got 
whipped accordingly. I was pleased to remember 
that I did not yield to the scourging; nor did I 
shed a tear. And in reviewing this incident, I 
wondered if John Knox, and John Calvin, and 
even old Torquemada, might not have been as 
conscientious in their treatment of heretics, unjust 
and unmerciful as such treatment may have been, 
as was my mother in thus torturing me ! I thought 
of my last hour with that mother — alone — in a 
closely curtained parlor ; she lying silent, pale, and 
cold ; and I speculating on the mystery of being, 
life, death, and a possible spiritual existence. It 
had been many years since ; but in all that time 
not a day, not an hour, had passed without my 
recollection of some thought that had occurred to 
me on that occasion. Nor has there since. 

Dear mother ! Constitutionally skeptical, yet 
striving all her life for convincing testimony to 
justify the affirmation of a God, and the divinity of 
Christ ! — her greatest difficulty was to reconcile the 
facts of human history, and the natural world, with 
the absolute government of an all-powerful and in- 
telligent Being, with her ideas of justice — to say 
nothing of mercy or love ! I remembered her 
comments on this subject — when, at an age too 
young to be thought appreciative — after reading 
“ Riley’s Narrative,” — an account of the treatment 
of several hundred Christians captured by Alger- 


206 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


ines and horribly maltreated, as slaves, and other- 
wise, in North Africa. 

A women of a good deal more than ordinary 
mental capacity — fairly educated, for the day, — she 
was not what is called a “ popular” woman. She 
did not permit many persons to come near enough 
to her to form attachments. So sensitive was her 
conscience, she did not distinguish exaggeration 
from falsehood, readily. The carelessness and 
inconsistency, if not inanity, of ordinary conver- 
sation, were to her uninteresting, if not offensive. 
Those whom she did permit to attach themselves 
to her became constant and devoted friends. She 
was severely critical of men and things, and uncon- 
sciously sarcastic ; sometimes, when it would have 
been better had she been otherwise. I remembered 
having heard her say to a neighboring woman — 
a member of the church — “ If what you tell me 
about each other is true, neither of you is fit to 
belong to the church ; and if what you say about 
each other is false, then surely you are not.” 
I remembered an illustration of her estimate of 
exaggeration as a habit of speech, by saying to me 
at dinner one day, some mutton gravy having 
escape upon my beard while I was relating a trivial 
circumstance with characteristic embellishment : 
“ Doctor, there is a flock of sheep running down 
your beard ! ” Having seen her in my dream but 
a few hours before, I recalled the fact that she had 
promised : should it prove true that life is continued 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


207 


in a spirit form, and communication with persons 
still in the flesh be possible, that she would make 
herself known to me. Had it been possible, I 
felt sure that she would have kept her promise. 
Where is she ? Can it be that she is a lost soul, 
wandering in darkness, waiting for a “judgment 
day” — to be cast out, at last forever, because of 
unbelief? — impossible! Intelligent, upright, just, 
loving ; sorrowful because of sin, but loyal to 
righteousness : such was my mother. Some mem- 
ories of my father, also, crossed the field of vision 
while thus half meditating, half dreaming ; and 
that single sunbeam crept lower, and still lower, 
down on the white coverlet. I saw him as he 
appeared to me in my infancy — infinite and un- 
created ! And I thought of him — how irrelative 
the memory — as, when carrying me in his arms, in 
his large, kindly way, he showed me all the wonders 
of a traveling menagerie. I recalled the features 
and expression of every beast — elephant, rhinoc- 
eros giraffe, lion, tiger, hyena, kangaroo, and 
especially the monkeys. I remembered him as when 
— I being about ten years old, with some little ele- 
mentary knowledge acquired in a district school — 
he became my teacher for a season of higher 
branches, with a light road-wagon for our academic 
hall, and myself the only pupil. It came about in 
this way. He was a popular physician in a newly 
settled district, with long distances between settlers. 
He became practically blind with ophthalmia, and 


208 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


while he was still able to ride, impressed me into 
service as his driver; making use, at the same 
time, of my eyes, to see his patients’ tongues, and 
to dose out his medicines. For many months the 
blind philosopher spent many hours, that would 
have been, otherwise, very lonesome to him, in 
giving me oral instruction on many subjects. It 
was the most profitable that I ever received. He 
knew all that was then known of natural philosophy, 
natural history, geology, astronomy, botany, and 
physiology ; and was a thorough mathematician. 
Of medicine — what difference, whether he knew 
much or little, as then taught, — he was a natural 
born physician, whose presence gave assurance of, 
and whose medicines effected, cure almost invariably. 
It seemed to me then to be quite a matter of indif- 
ference what he prescribed, so that it was medicine. 
I remembered him as I saw him the last night of his 
life ; when, at the age of ninety-one, he discoursed to 
me from his bed, intelligently and philosophically. 
He was constitutionally optimistic, hopeful and 
cheerful. He loved every body, and every thing 
that breathed the breath of life. He disliked idleness 
and dissipation ; but hated neither the idler nor the 
drunkard. He was often imposed upon by the de- 
signing, but never disposed to prosecute the im- 
postor. He was never a communicant of any 
church, but an unquestioning believer in God, 
Christ, and the salvation of all mankind! Such 
was my father ! Why do I so seldom think of him 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


209 


now, yet think of my mother so frequently? I 
do not remember having ever seen him in my 
dreams. Nothing is more common than to see my 
mother. . . . And thus recalling — or recog- 

nizing, as they came uncalled — the incidents of a 
life, so far as lived, I endeavored, from the mate- 
rials of memory thus furnished, to reconstruct that 
life by the aid of imagination, upon a different plan, 
such as it “might have been ” — forecasting, at the 
same time, a possible future, under new influences, 
not well defined, along lines leading to the one de- 
sired end — happiness ! reproaching myself for this, 
that, and the other error, which appeared so con- 
spicuously as such now. Mournfully enough did I 
retrace my steps down the rough declivities of 
doubt, and denial, along which I had stumbled so 
heedlessly in youth ; and the smooth dead-levels 
of jndifference, over which I had wandered aim- 
lessly — so long ! — and the mist-encumbered steeps 
of affirmation that I had, from time to time, es- 
sayed to climb, drawn, or driven, thitherward by 
unseen agencies, to find at length their solid- 
seeming foundations insubstantial, and their sub- 
lime-appearing altitudes untenable. Nor was my 
reverie — although awake — without its phantoms. 
Shadowy semblances of men and women, by groups, 
or singly — who had by influences, direct or inci- 
dental, affected my movements all along the lines 
of life — filed in and out of my room — rehearsing, 
fragmentarily, the more dramatic incidents of every 


2 10 


THE CLIFP'ORDS. 


folly, every sin — if such it were — of which I was 
then conscious, with now and then a stately figure, 
which I did not fail to recognize, seeming to be a 
looker-on only, until I slept again, and dreamed 
that I was a comet wandering through space, cross- 
ing the planes of innumerable suns and satellites ; 
harmless — a mere mist — now cold, and now incan- 
descent — until suddenly I felt myself plunging head- 
long and helplessly into the massive sun itself, to 
be swallowed up, extinguished, and forever lost 
from recognition, in its superior splendor ; when, 
with a spasmodic effort, I awoke ! — to find a serv- 
ant in the act of striking a match, and Dr. Clifford 
and his sister standing in the doorway awaiting the 
illumination, fearing, as they said, that something 
had happened to me, having missed me from the 
breakfast table, and an expected morning call. 

It was, indeed, late in the day when I was awaked 
from reverie. My room had been dark by reason 
of drawn curtains, the single ray of sunlight having 
long since failed to find its way through the pin- 
hole in the curtain, my window being now on the 
shaded side of the hotel building. I had no more 
than dressed myself when my friend and army 
companion made his appearance, with an old-time 
salutation of good-fellowship. 

“Hello! ’’said my friend; “I havn’t seen you 
for a week ! where have you been, and what have 
you been doing all this time ? ” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


21 I 


“ Well,” I said, “as near as I can remember, I 
have been dreaming for the last twelve hours ; and 
for the rest of my time, I have been — a good deal — 
with the Cliffords — first and last.” 

“I thought as much,” said my friend; “but I 
gave you due notice, beforehand, of danger, should 
you yield to that woman’s fascinations. Has my 
warning been unheeded — hence your dreaming?” 

“ I do not know what you call dangerous,” I said. 
“ I have not seen any thing that I would call dan- 
gerous, about her — so far as I am concerned, at 
least ! She is no Delilah ; I am no Samson ! She 
is no Una ; I am no Lion! nor ‘ spring chicken,’ for 
that matter.” 

“ What are you dreaming about, then ? ” inquired 
my friend — “ things past, present or future? ” 

“All ! all ! ” I said. “I am dissatisfied with my 
past life. Unsatisfied with my present life. And 
doubtful respecting the future.” 

“I see nothing to be alarmed about in your 
statement,” said my friend. “ The man who is not 
dissatisfied with his past life has not grown ; has 
not improved ; may as well have remained an in- 
fant. He who is satisfied with present conditions, 
is either an egotist or a fool. Perhaps both. As 
to the future : no man can see beyond his own 
horizon, and can only infer the unknown from the 
known, rationally.” 

“ I am tired of being rational,” I said. “To be 
rational, indeed, provided one has much regard for 


212 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


facts, is humiliating, because of its limiting and 
belittlement of self: of human understanding and 
capability. It disgusts one with sensualism, and 
ridicules idealism, as phases of philosophy ; and 
by weakening affirmation, and strengthening de- 
nial, makes skepticism inevitable. I am tired of it.” 

“ There is but one more stage in your philo- 
sophic evolution;” said my friend: — “Mysticism! 
You can still be rational and be a mystic, — pro- 
vided you can accept hypotheses for facts ; and the 
say-so of other human beings, who really know, 
or, never knew, any more about the things whereof 
they speak, than you do yourself. You will find 
reason quite as ready and accommodating, to con- 
firm falsehood as truth, should you hypothesize the 
necessary predicates. Granting what Swedenborg 
says he saw and heard, to be true, and not the 
errors of hallucination ; and there is nothing more 
rational in the entire range of philosophy than are 
his inferences and intellectual speculations.” 

“Yes,” I said, reflectively. “But how can one 
believe that — which he — don’t believe ! ” 

“Easy enough,” said my friend. “Think how 
feeble-minded and incapable of knowing what is, 
and what is not, true you are, and look to some 
one else, who does know, some pious woman, for 
instance, who is not likely to be mistaken, for 
knowledge of things beyond your own compre- 
hension.” 

Recognizing the irony, as well as the innuendo. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


213 


of my friend’s speech, as being entirely consistent 
with our terms of friendship, I accepted it without 
resentment, and remarked : “I am not sure that 
I do not envy Miss Clifford, because of her faith, 
rather than the Doctor, on account of his knowledge. 
Faith responds to the necessities of human con- 
sciousness, while knowledge, limited as it needs 
must be, does not.” 

“Faith is responsive to the necessities of human 
consciousness,” said my friend, “in the absence of 
knowledge ; by its pretense of knowing that which 
is unknown, if not, also, unknowable. Hence, 
faith and ignorance go hand in hand, inseparable 
companions, unembarrassed by limitations ; while 
knowledge and science, also allied, moving in 
whatsoever direction they may, notwithstanding 
their proud gate, soon find themselves arrested by 
the fiat of incapability, and ‘ stand at gaze, like 
Joshua’s moon in Ajalon ! ’ with human conscious- 
ness still unsatisfied. Which do you prefer? ” 

“ I can not choose. It is not a matter of voli- 
tion,” I said. “Even if ‘ignorance is bliss,’ and 
‘ it is folly to be wise;’ I can not restore myself to 
ignorance and renounce allegiance to knowledge ! 
To pretend to do so would be disloyalty to self ; 
deception, treason ! Is there no remedy ? ” 

“ What is it that your consciousness demands 
that knowledge does not respond to?” asked my 
friend. “Upon that depends the answer to your 
question.” 


214 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“ Science,” I said, “ deals, for the most part, 
with effects : I wish to know more about causes. 
Science considers only that which is. I wish to 
know about things that were and things that are to 
be. How can I ? ” 

“ I see,” said my friend. “You are shedding the 
leaves of skepticism, and putting forth buds of 
mysticism. It is in the order of philosophic evo- 
lution. But you will find Miss Clifford as ignorant 
of, and as hostile to, mysticism, as she is of, and 
to, atheism, or agnosticism.” 

“ I do not see what Miss Clifford’s approbation, 
or hostility, has to do with my present state of 
consciousness . . . that you should allude to 
her so frequently,” I said — with some asperity, 
perhaps. 

“ I thought that I should find a tender spot, if I 
continued to feel for it,” said my friend, with a 
smile. “ The fact is — as I diagnose your case — 
you have been, for a long time, in a state of indif- 
ference ; without sufficient activity of feeling to be- 
lieve, or disbelieve — content not to know, so long 
as you were undisturbed. Miss Clifford has dis- 
turbed you ! Doctor Clifford has entertained, but 
not agitated, you. Your intellectual strings are in 
harmony with his. Miss Clifford has touched your 
feeling, for a long time silent ; and the result is : 
not a new — but an almost forgotten — ^vibration. 
As belief proceeds from feeling in a state of ac- 
tivity, you may think it possible to harmonize your 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


215 


belief with hers. But you can not do so. You 
have long since outgrown the intellectual plane 
which she still occupies. You may advance into 
mysticism, but can not return to the lower levels of 
idealism, or sensualism — unless, indeed, it be in 
consequence of returning to infantile conditions by 
the way of sensile dementia! You are too young 
for that yet.” 

“Can one find refuge in mysticism from the 
despotism of doubt, and the ‘everlasting nay’ of 
skepticism ; or escape from the blank despair into 
which science leads, and leaves us?” I asked. 

“To one who is capable of comprehending 
mysticism in its fuller and more rational expression 
— as formulated by Swedenborg, for example — it is 
exceedingly attractive ; and leads away from the 
doubts and denials of skepticism, and the nihilism 
of science. It appropriates to its own uses the re- 
sults of all precedent mental effort to find out and 
to know ; embracing all established facts and gen- 
eralizations of principles. It extends the horizon 
of human knowledge indefinitely by the scientific 
inference that whatever truth lies without the limi- 
tations of our material capabilities is, necessarily, 
continuous — and harmonious — with that which lies 
within. An evolution of a spiritual man ; of a 
spiritual universe ; is a process in perfect keeping 
with all preceding evolutions recognized by sci- 
ence : amenable to spiritual law, corresponding to, 
and harmonious with, laws that we call natural. It 


2i6 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


presents to the recipient, in short, a ‘ religion that 
is philosophical, and a philosophy that is religious,’ ” 
— said my friend, with an air of entire composure 
and familiarity with the subject. 

“Yes,” I said, reflectively, “quite satisfying, un- 
doubtedly, to those who are capable, as you say, of 
comprehending it. But I am too skeptical, still for 
that.” Hesitating, then, a moment — I presume 
my friend knew of whom, or what, I was thinking — 
I continued: “ Does not Christianity, as ordinarily 
accepted, imply idealism ; spiritual self-perceptions; 
and a more or less mystical philosophy?” 

“ Orthodox Christianity,” said my friend, “ which 
is an evolution from — hence superior to, Judaism — 
consists of a certain degree of Greek idealism, 
superimposing Hebrew sensualism. It is almost 
as exclusively dogmatic as Judaism itself; which is 
based, wholly upon arbitrary statements of alleged 
facts admitting of no discussion. Nothing could be 
more sensualistic, or dogmatic, than the Mosaic 
account of creation ; including the concept of the 
Creator ; represented as requiring rest from labor ; 
planting gardens ; walking about in the cool of the 
day; talking familiarly with Adam and his wife; 
finally driving them from his presence, with curses, if 
not with kicks, lest they — having become like him- 
self respecting knowledge — should put forth their 
hands, and take, also, of the tree of life, and eat, 
and live forever: like any other selfish, cruel, un- 
cultivated, powerful savage ! So of the whole 


THE CLIFP^ORUS. 


217 


Story ; or compilation of stories ; from Adam to 
Noah; from Noah to Abraham; from Abraham to 
Moses ; and from Moses to Jesus : it may be said to 
consist essentially, of what God said, and men did ; 
commanding, threatening, punishing, on the one 
side : and disobediance, with consequent suffering 
direful penalties, on the other. Christianity, as a 
cult, differs from Judaism: in its recognition of 
God as a spiritual being, dwelling neither in Jeru- 
salem, nor yonder mountain ; idealized as a loving 
father, instead of a jealous, and exacting, oriental 
monarch ; and the dogmatic assertion of the di- 
vinity, and legitimate messiahship, of Jesus; to 
which should be added, perhaps, the dogmas of the 
resurrection of human bodies — after, no matter how 
long a period of waiting — called to a final judg- 
ment, before entering upon a further stage of 
immortality. Christian faith, is therefore, based 
upon dogmatic assertion, also, and almost ex- 
clusively.” 

“ Miracles, and prophecies?” I suggested. 

“Assertions of miracles, and prophecies,” my 
friend responded. 

“Swedenborg, your model mystic,” I said, “was 
a Christian — was he not? How do you reconcile 
the facts?” 

“ He professed to be a Christian, par excellence ; 
claiming to have been instructed as to the ‘true 
Christian religion ’ by the Lord Himself; and to have 
been commissioned by the Lord to instruct the world 


2i8 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


concerning the spiritual meaning of the word of 
God, theretofore hidden from mankind — and to an- 
nounce the descent of the New Jerusalem, or New 
Church, into the old ; and the beginning of a new 
era of Christianity on earth. But he was never 
recognized as a Christian by the orthodox churches ; 
and has now, after two hundred years, but a small 
following of believers — however extensive the un- 
recognized influence of his teaching upon the re- 
ligious thought of the time.” 

“ Was he insane?” I said. 

“ Probably !” my friend answered. 

“Do you remember,” my friend then asked me, 
“that crazy soldier who came running back fram a 
hot engagement in front of Petersburg, to your 
division hospital, and asked to be admitted at 
once; claiming to be suffering numerous diseases? 
The man who, when you asked him what ailed 
him, recited a long list of ailments — twenty or 
thirty — and then, clasping his head in both hands, 
as if in agony, exclaimed ‘ I wish that I were 
dead!’ And when you asked him why he did not 
stay at the front a little while longer, and get 
killed, if he really wished to be dead? — said: ‘I 
saved the enemy from an act of great inhumanity 
by running. It would have been just like firing 
into a hospital to have shot me, suffering so many 
diseases.’ Whatever became of that fellow?” 

“ I remember him very well,” I said. “ He 
proved to be insane. I sent him to the govern- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


219 


ment hospital for the insane, and he died there of 
maniacal exhaustion. I was curious to know how 
he knew the names of so many maladies. He 
told me that he was a printer, and learned the 
names of diseases from patent medicine advertise- 
ments which he had to ‘ set up.’ ” 

“What a lot of insane, imbecile, and otherwise 
defective and depraved recruits were sent out from 
the large cities as drafted men, or ‘substitutes,’ 
that last year of the war ! They demoralized, in- 
stead of re-enforcing, the army in proportion to 
their number,” said my friend. 

“Yes,” I said, “the first impulse of the country 
to volunteer, which placed in the field an immense 
army before any hardships or fighting had been 
experienced, drained the country of what we call 
‘patriotism’ — that kind of patriotism, I mean, 
which impels to, and sustains, great self-sacrifice — 
and — well — some provost marshals, and examining 
surgeons, in charge of the ‘ draft,’ were as merce- 
nary, and conscienceless, as was Captain Falstaff, 
who admitted that he had ‘ misused the king’s ’ 
press damnably; having ‘got, in exchange for a 
hundred and fifty soldiers, three hundred and odd 
pounds.’ And with similar results. Sending to 
the front — ‘food for powder, food for powder’ — 

‘ good enough to fill trenches ’ — I suppose they 
thought. How continuous and persistent human 
nature is ! That is how it comes that history re- 
peats itself.” 


220 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“Yes,” I said, “ Caesar mentions the dishonesty 
of his quartermasters — fictitious pay-rolls, etc., and 
Shakespeare represents Brutus as accusing Cassius 
of taking bribes, you know.” 

“Art may be long, as the poets say,” said my 
friend, “but heredity is longer. It has held the 
human race quite level, so far — notwithstanding our 
boast of improvement. Some slight modification 
of humanity may have been effected ; but always 
within the limits of a general type of the genus 
homo. Brutus and Cassius were both men, Ro- 
mans, patricians, statesmen, patriots, conspirators, 
and assassins : but they were different in other re- 
spects. They were born of different mothers!” 

“And different fathers, too,” I suggested. 

“More than likely,” said my friend, “as they 
were so very different. But Romans, in their time, 
were not supposed to know who their fathers were, 
Cassius, himself, is represented as apologizing for 
his hasty temper as being an inheritance from his 
mother.” 

“One may inherit marked features from either 
father or mother, separately,” I said, “ or from both 
in combination. Characteristics inherited from par- 
ents are determined— I think — by the relative 
strength or activity of the germinal, and spermatic, 
elements that combine for our ‘becoming,’ and give 
to new beings — so to speak — a constitutional ‘ send- 
off.’ And I have observed, as a matter of fact, that 
others may have noticed, also — though I have not 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


22 1 


seen mention made of it — that characteristics of one 
parent may predominate for a time, say the first half 
of a person’s life — characteristics of the other par- 
ent becoming more and more conspicuous as the 
person advances in years. From boyhood until 
middle life, I was like my mother in constitution 
and disposition. Since then I have been growing 
unmistakably like my father, physically and men- 
tally. Is it not probable that the paternal element 
in my organization has outlived the maternal con- 
tribution to my being, my father having descended 
from a much longer-lived family than did my mother? 
I think so.” 

“Organization is despotic,” said my friend, “and 
heredity is its executive. It is not amenable to 
public opinion, nor easily ‘ modified by assassina- 
tion,’ even. Human nature has asserted sover- 
eignty, and practically maintained it, over mankind, 
ever since man became human. Mankind, through 
fear of the invisible, acknowledges the supremacy 
of a supernatural hypothetical being, but human 
nature dictates man’s conduct in even this. Chris- 
tianity claims to liberate men from the bondage of 
nature by a ‘new birth’ — a ‘change of heart,’ and 
all that — and does modify the dispositions and con- 
duct of many. But such modification is — in kind 
and degree — permitted by organization, and effected 
by human nature itself. Nor is it, in its general 
extension — as affectfng large numbers of people, 
at any given time — of great peculiarity, or signifi- 


222 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


cance. Witness the history of all Christian peo- 
ples — even the history of the Christian church, in 
all of its branches — how essentially human! human 
in its bigotry, intolerance, hatred, enviousness, jeal- 
ousies, and endless dissensions ! Never was greater 
injustice shown, or greater cruelty inflicted, by men 
upon men, than has been practiced, for centuries, 
by Christian peoples toward professing Christians ! 
Why is it that the personal precepts of the martyr, 
Jesus, have never been incorporated in the lives of 
his alleged followers ? Because so many of them are 
not consistent with the dictates of human nature. 
Take, for example, that chapter of ‘ glittering gen- 
eralities,’ the ‘Sermon on the Mount,’ the pith, or 
marrow, as it were, of Christ’s teaching ! — what 
Christian church, community, or state, pretends to 
make an effort, even, to conform life to the precepts 
therein contained ? Human nature being as it is, 
they are simply impracticable.” 

“ But you must admit,” I said, “that Christian 
peoples are in advance of all others, and that great 
reformations have been effected, from time to time, 
by such peoples themselves!” 

“All advances that have ever been made, and all 
reformations ever effected among men, have been 
made and effected by human growth, under the 
control of — or in harmony with — human nature,” 
said my friend. “ But for differences of organiza- 
tion — consequently of human nature — there is no 
reason why Christianity should not have been ac- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


223 


cepted by all mankind, instead of a limited, small 
proportion, of the human race. All men are by 
nature religious, but Christianity is responsive to 
the natures of but few. The missionary work of 
centuries has made but little, if any, impression 
upon peoples of the yellow, red, or black races; or 
of Jewish, Mohammedan, Brahminic, Buddhistic, 
or other oriental religious persuasions. Were Chris- 
tianity of supernatural origin, divine in character, 
and force, it would not have been so limited ; un- 
less, indeed, other religions are, also, supernatural, 
and divine. But I called, only, to see what had 
become of you — and must bid you ‘ good-morning ! ’ 
If you find, on reflection, that you must know more 
about the universe — and especially about yourself, 
and your fellow-men — than you can learn from sci- 
ence, observation, and reflection — try Swedenborg, 
Spiritualism, or — Miss Cliflbrd.” So saying, he 
departed — was, in fact, outside the door when the 
last remark was made. 

“Swedenborg! Spiritism!” I said to myself, as 
the sound of his voice died away ; “ He does 

not know that I have, long since, appropriated all 
that I could assimilate of both ! And now, the 
only choice seems to be — well — I am not satisfied 
with matters as they now present themselves.” 


224 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


CHAPTER X. 

Natural processions along lines of least resistance — Siipernatiiralistn 
natural — Ancestral error not censurable — Hypotheses useful — 
Heaven and Hell — A camp-meeting experience— Rrolher Cooper 
will preach — Brother Cooper’s sermon — The right way and the 
best way — “ I am the way,” etc, 

“ You say, Doctor, that all natural processions 
are in the direction of the least resistance?” I re- 
marked interrogatively, after dinner — as we en- 
tered Dr. Clifford’s luxurious rooms for an hour’s 
conversation ; neither of us being, at that time, in 
the habit of smoking, or sleeping immediately after 
meals. 

“Certainly,” said the Doctor. “Water never 
runs up-hill, naturally, nor do rocks climb moun- 
tains.” 

“ Does the rule apply to mental movements, 
also — to human will ultimating in action ; or to 
thought ultimating in belief?” I inquired. 

“As a matter of fact, yes,” said the Doctor. 
“ Mental processions are influenced, however, by 
real or apparent necessities, as recognized by con- 
sciousness ; moving a man to row upstream ; or to 
believe in things unnatural, as being, under such 
circumstances, along lines of least resistance.” 

“By the ‘unnatural’ you mean the ‘super- 
natural’ — I presume?” I said, suggestively. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


225 


“Belief in things supernatural,” said the Doctor, 
“ is an unobstructed mental procession, obedient to 
the necessities of consciousness in all primitive 
conditions of mankind.” 

“ If I may be permitted to interrupt the present 
procession,” said Miss Clifford, “may I ask: To 
what necessities of human consciousness do you 
allude?” 

“The necessity of knowing,” said the Doctor. 
“One of the prime distinguishing characteristics 
of man ! The spontaneous desire to know — which 
is one with necessity— instigates a mental proces- 
sion that moves along a line of superficial facts, 
recognized by the senses as natural, until it reaches 
the limitations of human capability, and then, not 
satisfied, glides into the unknown, without resist- 
ance, and constructs facts, by the aid of imagina- 
tion, to meet its needs, however unsubstantial.” 

“ By which unsubstantial facts, you mean : the 
Creator of heaven and earth, and the history of 
creation: I presume?” said Miss Clifford, with an 
expression bordering on the contemptuous. 

“Yes, and all other concepts of supernatural 
beings and phenomena,” said the Doctor. “ Gods 
and angels, devils and demons, of whatever class 
or denomination, and the performances ascribed to 
them by men in their mental projects of cosmic^and 
human history — of whatever time or people.” 

Miss Clifford took up a book, and seemed to 
have withdrawn from further participation in the 


226 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


discussion — much to my disappointment. So I 
said — hoping to interest her further — “ If the men- 
tal processions of which you speak, reaching be- 
yond the limitations of human capability, into the 
‘ unknown,’ proceed from the necessities of cotv 
sciousness : are they not natural, significant and 
important, as related to human development, and 
welfare?” 

“Certainly!” said the Doctor — “indispensable — 
man being what he was — to human growth ! Not 
indispensable, now, to all, because man has grown I 
Useless to all who have outgrown their uses! I 
do not know that all natural processions are either 
matters of design, with reference to predetermined 
ends ; or especially beneficent, so far as human 
appreciation goes ; but I do know that they are 
harmonious — one with another — and that no one 
could be — or have been — left out, or greatly modi- 
fied, in its time, without deranging the order of the 
universe !” 

“Fatalism!” I heard Miss Clifford say, in an 
undertone, without appearing to be giving atten- 
tion to the Doctor’s remarks. My ears were, 
more than ordinarily sensitive to her voice, just at 
that time, it is probable, and I was pleased to know 
that she was listening still. 

“You are not, then, one of the war-like scien- 
tists,” I said to Dr. Clifford, “who seem to regard 
the errors of our ancestors as willfully imposed 
upon the world by designing wicked men ? ” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


227 


“No!” said the Doctor. “One might as well 
arraign his own infancy, and hold it responsible for 
imposture, because he has outgrown the beliefs of 
childhood.” 

“ If the hypotheses of our ancestors were er- 
roneous, to be discredited, as they have been, by 
human growth — how could they have contributed 
to such growth, and the happiness of mankind — as 
they must have done, if natural, and harmonious 
with all other processions pertaining to human de- 
velopment?” I inquired. 

“ Rational hypothesizing,” said the Doctor, 
“ upon the basis of whatever facts one may be in 
possession of, contributes to mental, as exercise 
does to muscular, development; and its errors are 
subject to correction by an increase of capability 
thus effected. The hypothesis of a supernatural 
Creator of heaven and earth was rational, on the 
part of our ancestors, considering the facts with 
which they were familiar, only! rational, natural, 
and inevitable, under the circumstances ! Entirely 
unable to account for such facts otherwise, they 
constructed a hypothetical being with powers equal 
to the exigencies of the case ; from materials fur- 
nished by memory to imagination ; now as man, 
and now as beast ; sometimes both in combination. 
Beings as variously endowed as they were consti- 
tuted : one like the ‘ Lord-God,’ dwelling alone in 
heaven ; coming down, now and then, to see to 
things on earth — watching certain fruit trees, or the 


228 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


building of towers endangering his habitation ; an- 
other, hiding in a mountain, like Jupiter on Olym- 
pus, or Jehovah on Sinai ; some in temples, or tab- 
ernacles — or carried about in arks — as were the 
gods of Egypt, and Israel, for the convenience of 
armies, or nomadic peoples. That such hypothe- 
sizing is subject to modification by the growth of 
capabilities, may be known from the facts that 
Jupiter has been banished, as a myth, from Olym- 
pus, with all his divine retinue ; and the ‘ Heavenly 
Father’ of Jesus is not recognizable as even a dis- 
tant relative of Jehovah, as represented by Moses. 
And now — after centuries, or ages, of growth — 
consciousness having received notice of the fact, 
through more intelligent perception, that the earth 
is but a speck of matter, as related to the sun, 
around which it moves ; and is a globule of floating 
matter, instead of a flat, four-cornered, stationary 
mass ; and that, giving light by day for the benefit 
of the earth, is but a small, and incidental, matter 
as related to the great functional capacity of, and 
work accomplished by, the sun — facts approved by 
reason — demands of imagination a new hypothesis ! 
Nor will it be content, ever again, with the old ! ” 
“If all hypotheses are liable to modification, or 
rejection, by successive theorizing,” I said, “ why 
should the new be considered better, or more trust- 
worthy, than its predecessor? ” 

“ Why should the opinions of a mature man of 
intelligence and education be considered better and 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


229 


more trustworthy than the opinions of a child? ” 
said the Doctor. “ Because they embrace as a 
foundation a wider range of facts, more intelligently 
observed, and are constructed of a greater variety 
of materials, by more skillful artisans — reason and 
imagination ! And because they satisfy, for the 
time being — centuries or ages — the demands of 
consciousness ! ” 

“The demands of fiddle-sticks! of Atheism!” 
said Miss Clifford (aside), as the plays have it — 
still apparently interested in her book. 

“As, but comparatively few persons of any given 
age are so far in advance of the multitude, intel- 
lectually, as to demand, or construct, new hypoth- 
eses, of a general character, respecting things su- 
pernatural — greatly as the old may vary in particu- 
lars — how are the masses of mankind bettered by 
such new hypotheses?” I asked — without serious 
intent — being more interested, as I now think, in 
Miss Clifford’s mental state, and operations, than in 
the Doctor’s. 

“As the moon reflects a certain amount of sun- 
light into the shadow of the earth, which we call 
‘night’ — so a few men illuminated by science re- 
flect a certain amount of its light into the shadow 
of ignorance, which we call ‘superstition,’ or 
the ‘supernatural,’ much to the benefit of man-, 
kind!” said the Doctor. “Darkness,” he con- 
tinued, after a moment’s reflection, “darkness is 
awful ! — unless we fall asleep in it, and become 


230 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


unconscious. Light is joyful, exhilarating, liber- 
ating, inspiring to action !” 

“ Inasmuch as the greater number of mankind 
are born into darkness, and tremble with fear lest 
the darkness be banished ; how can it contribute to 
their happiness to reflect even a little ligh^ into 
their darkness?” I said, almost automatically; still 
moving mentally with the tide in an opposite di- 
rection. 

“Your question embraces the whole problem of 
civilization ; of human growth, and culture,” said 
the Doctor. “ It might, indeed, be cruel, if not 
disastrous, to banish darkness by sudden, un- 
tempered illumination. But we must either ad- 
vance or retreat. Which is better ? Every step 
in advance is toward the light! Every step in the 
opposite direction is toward darkness! Human 
progression is but slow at best. Natural proces- 
sions are all slow. But fast enough ; if one could 
but so understand it. There is no danger of a de- 
structive flood of light under any circumstances.” 

“Were faith in God, and immortality, or civili- 
zation, alternative propositions, there should be no 
hesitation in choosing,” said Miss Clifford — turning 
her head to look over her shoulder. “ But the 
alternative has not been, and never will be, forced 
upon us. Christianity and civilization have gone 
hand in hand for two thousand years, nearly ; and 
will continue to do so forever! 

“It is true,” said the Doctor, “that civilization 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


231 


has not, as yet, effected a complete emancipation of 
its beneficiaries from the supremacy of the super- 
natural in the composition of mental concepts. 
But such concepts have been so greatly modified 
thereby as to give promise of future independence. 
Modern, Christian ideas of God, heaven, hell and 
the future states of the good and evil, are very 
different from the notions entertained even no 
longer ago than we can remember. Did you ever 
hear an old-fashioned, ‘ fire-and-brimstone ’ sermon 
— of say, twenty-five years ago?” 

Glad of an opportunity to change the tone, if 
not the trend of the discussion, I said: “ It may as 
well be confessed that I have not heard a Christian 
sermon of any kind for many years ; but I re- 
member having heard remarkable discourses from 
orthodox pulpits in my youth ! I shall never for- 
get a certain ‘ camp-meeting ’ sermon to which I 
listened with unusual interest, when a boy of about 
sixteen. It was on a glorious day in June. A 
Sabbath day. Attendance on the services during 
the week had been but slight. Farmers had been 
busy with their growing corn. Report had gone 
abroad that President Simpson, of Asbury Univer- 
sity, then renowned for oratory, afterward, as a 
bishop of the Methodist ‘ persuasion,’ would preach 
on Sunday ! An immense congregation assembled 
that day. The trumpet sounded for service to 
begin. Every body was in a state of expectation: 
especially the well-dressed, and more pretentious 


232 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


towns-people, and villagers, who had crowded to 
the front. The presiding elder — Aaron Wood — 
followed by an exceedingly unprepossessing man, 
advanced to the speaker’s stand ; and the elder 
said, substantially : ‘We have been preaching here, 
for the last week, to almost empty benches, while 
you have been hoeing corn ! To-day, when you 
can not work at home, and so think it clear gain, 
you have turned out — an immense concourse — ex- 
pecting to hear the greatest preacher of the age ! 
But we wish it to be distinctly understood that we 
feel under no obligation to fire our big guns for 
the benefit of gr-reen-horns and loafers — Brother 
Cooper will preach ! ’ And Brother Cooper did 
preach ! After reading a good part of the book ol 
Revelations, and a chapter or two from Matthew ; de- 
scriptive of the last day, and general judgment ; he 
spoke for more than two hours, sans intermis- 
sion ; sans punctuation; with fervid and realistic 
rhetoric. Finally he called upon the people — 
already excited — to imagine the fearful sound 
of Gabriel’s trumpet calling the inhabitants of 
earth, living and dead, together for final judgment. 
Graves opening ; tombstones flying ; the dead 
arising; the sea giving up its dead ; and the living 
all commingling with them ! Then, as judgment 
took place, he said, the first movement would be on 
the part of infants, leaving their mother’s arms — 
wrested away from their unworthy parents, and 
transferred to the arms of Jesus ; while the mothers 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


233 


would be cast out, where ‘ is weeping and wail- 
ing and gnashing of teeth’ forever! He added 
‘ wailing ’ to the words of the text in sheer exuber- 
ance of fancy. Women holding babes to their 
breasts — there were many in the congregation — 
shuddered ; clasping their little ones with firmer 
hold. Some sobbed ; and one or two shrieked 
hysterically. Infants being disposed of he turned 
his attention to the next class to be saved : the 
idiotic ! All idiots would ascend at once, to be re- 
ceived as precious treasure in the realms of bliss ! 
while talented fathers and unbelieving brothers 
would be marched off into outer darkness, where is 
weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth ! Next 
in order to arise would be the honest heathen, who 
had never heard the name of Jesus, and therefore 
had not come under the law of condemnation, while 
all other heathen to whom missionaries had carried 
the word would be cast out into outer darkness, 
where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of 
teeth I Then came the saints and martyrs, and all 
those who had suffered persecution for Christ’s 
sake ; and then all true believers in the merits of 
the atoning sacrifice, etc. What the effect of this 
sermon upon my impressible nature would have 
been but for a trivial circumstance no one 
knows. I had been listening with undivided attenr 
tion to the preacher, when, as he repeated, for per- 
haps the twenty-fourth time — Shall be cast into 
outer darkness, ‘where is weeping and wailing and 


234 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


gnashing of teeth,’ a boy, of my own age, sitting 
next to me — a long-limbed, bony, awkward fellow, 
qualified, as I thought, to ‘ go up ’ with the second 
class in brother Cooper’s category of the saved 
— struck his angular elbow into my sWe and said : 

‘ And them that has n’t got no teeth will have to 
gum it ! ’ The fool’s remark exploded like a bomb 
in my brain, and all serious thoughts were thrown 
into confusion for a moment ; and then the whole 
performance assumed a character more ludicrous 
than solemn. Needless to say: I was not one of 
the multitude who went forward to the ‘ mourner’s 
bench’ to be prayed for after that sermon. Possibly 
that was the lost opportunity of a life-time. Had 
I been ‘ converted ’ then, as many others were, who 
knows what difference it might have made in my 
career ! I might have been a preacher ! Possibly 
a bishop ! Instead of wandering still in doubt 
about— not the right but the best way ! ” 

“ Is not the right way always the best way?” 
suggested Miss Clifford, with a persuasive smile. 

I hesitated a moment, and Dr. Clifford took the 
question from me, saying : 

“ Of course not ! Most persons move in ways 
that seem to themselves right ; but there may be, 
doubtless are, ways that would be better, if they 
only knew more. The Bible says: ‘There is a 
way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end 
thereof are the ways of death ! ’ Right as dis- 
tinguished from wrong, is a matter of intelligence. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


235 


education, conscience. Hence, perceptions of right 
differ, as persons differ in degrees of capability 
and education. Respecting his estimates of right 
and wrong, every man is a law unto himself.” 

“A ‘ heathen ’ only is permitted to be ‘a law unto 
himself,’ ” said Miss Clifford. “ For enlightened 
people there is but one right way, but one best 
way, and they are the same. No one need be ig- 
norant of that way, nor in doubt respecting it.” 

Miss Clifford’s expression was tenderly solicitous, 
as she addressed this assuance directly to me. So 
I said : “You refer, I suppose to that ‘ staightened 
way,’ spoken of in Matthew’s report of Christ’s 
sermon on the mount — that so few are supposed 
to find ? ” 

“ The way that leads to life !” said Miss Clifford ; 
her soulful eyes more eloquent, if possible, than 
her sympathetic voice. 

“Show me the way!” I said, impulsively; with- 
out time for hesitation, or reflection. 

“‘I am the way!’ says our Redeemer. ‘I am 
the resurrection, and the life!’” was Miss Clifford’s 
response to my challenge. It is probable that I 
expected more — perhaps too much. 

As I retired, a few minutes after the foregoing 
colloquy, somewhat disappointed by its abrupt 
termination ; the words last spoken were repeated, 
again, and again — appealing, as never before, to 
my consciousness — although not unfamiliar as Gos- 


236 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


pel literature — until, alone in my room, falling into 
my usual attitude and mood of recumbency and 
reflection, I said to myself: “What does all this 
mean! Where am I? What do I want? What 
have I been doing? To what, a:nd what kind of, 
life does this straight and much vaunted way, lead, 
after all ? It can not be this present, natural, life ! 
Men lived as long, and as vigorously, before the 
advent of Christianity as they have since. Does it 
mean eternal life! — and that there is no other road 
to immortality ? Does the other — the broad way 
that leads to death, or destruction, end in annihila- 
tion, and unconsciousness? Well, that is better 
than hell ! The unconscious are, at least, uncon- 
cerned about themselves, whether they shall ever 
become conscious again, or otherwise. 

But Christian dogma ascribes immortality to the 
damned as well as to the redeerned ! Ah ! there ’s 
the rub! An eternity of suffering in a lake of 
burning brimstone ! . . . Or a place of outer 

darkness where is weeping, and gnashing of teeth!” 
And then I happened to think of a description of 
hell, and the suffering of the damned, as given by a 
distinguished Baptist “evangelist” of the middle 
of the century, named Elder Knapp. He de- 
scribed with all manner of hot metaphors the 
physical conditions of hell — the height and depth, 
and length of its burning waves ; and the awful 
agony of burning, yet unconsumed, wicked souls ; 
howling and hopeless ; and remembered, especially. 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


237 


his saying: “There is a clock in hell that strikes 
but once in a thousand years ; and every time it 
strikes the damned look up, and listen, and then 
cry out, as the sound of its striking dies away : No 
hope! no hope!” And then I said: Is it possible 
that these Christian dogmas signify any thing more 
than human concepts ; the imagings and reasoning 
of men ? Multitudes of Christian sects have 
arisen, and continue to exist, each finding an ex- 
cuse for being in some construction of scriptural 
texts about which every other sect is mistaken. 
Does not this fact, alone, testify to the humanness, 
imperfection, fallibility, of the scripture? Uni- 
formity of manifestation, and interpretation of phe- 
nomena are essential to the constitution of a 
science. Why should not statements, and interpre- 
tations, of scripture pretending to be supernatur- 
ally inspired be subject to the same requirements ? 

And yet — I said — Christianity has exhib- 
ited too much vitality ; and accomplished too much 
by way of elevating human character, and contrib- 
uting to human happiness ; whether natural or 
supernatural in its genesis ; to be treated as pre- 
tentious, or insignificant. Relieved of embarrass- 
ing inconsistencies, and ecclesiastical fiction, who 
knows but Christianity may be harmonized with 
whatever else is real and genuine within the range 
of human knowledge? . . . But as my lids 

grew heavier, and thought more limited, the 
words : “lam the way, the truth, the resurrection. 


238 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


and the life!” were pulsed as it were across my 
forehead, and seen by consciousness instead of 
being heard, without the intervention of natural 
sense organs ; and I remember having thought : 
“To find that way one must find Jesus. To walk 
in that way is to walk as He walked. To walk as 
He walked implies — what? Renunciation! . . . 

Yes, renunciation of self, and devotion to the Lord 
and the neighbor ! That is what it implies. No 
more self-seeking aspiration ; acquisition of knowl- 
edge, reputation, worldly goods, personal comfort ; 
or any thing usually regarded as contributive to hu- 
man e'njoyment. . . . Can I walk in that way? 

. . . Did I ever know any one who could, or did? 

Rachel Vale tried to — but she was declared by a 
jury of Christians to be insane ! I have known 
some persons — women, mostly — who professed hav- 
ing attained “ perfection,” or a condition of “ sanc- 
tification.” Close observation dispelled the illu- 
sion. . . . No, if to walk with Jesus means 

to live in accordance with his precepts and example, 
I can not do it. I can be Christ-like in some ways — 
charitable, loving, forgiving, generous, and all that. 
Can forgive my enemies, to some extent — but can 
not promise to love them. Nor — although never 
avaricious — can I cease entirely to make provision 
for the morrow : something to eat and to wear (the 
climate being rather cooler than that of Palestine), 
including provision for myself and others look- 
ing to me for assistance. . . . Nor could I de- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


239 


ceive myself by pretending to walk in this way 
when I knew that I was not so doing, as most all 
professing Christians must do ; thinking their con- 
duct will be excused because of their belief. . . . 

Admitting, gladly, that professing Christians, as a 
class, however they may fall short of living accord- 
ing to profession, are far better — more desirable, 
and commendable, than societies of “hoodlums” — 
scoffers, and mockers, at all pretensions of virtue — 
yet, I have known Christians — well, as Brutus said 
to Cassius, “I’d rather be a dog and bay the moon 
than such a Roman ! ” . . . To recognize Jesus 

as God, that I. can never do ! nor as the Son of 
God — in a physiological sense! No; I can not go 
backward to that extent ! Not even with Miss 
Clifford, hand in hand, leading me. . . . There is so 
much that is true and good and beautiful in Chris- 
tianity, is there no way of stripping it of its masque- 
rading garments, its disguises, and false preten- 
sions? — or has the time not yet come ? . . . Could 
one only harmonize the facts of observations with 
such pretensions, the “way” would seem to be 
plainer, if not more straightened. ... I wonder 
if Miss Clifford is a true Christian ? It is said that 
she is rich ! Her likes and dislikes bespeak the 
humanness of her sentiments and affections. And 
yet — what a lovable woman I I wish that I knew 
her more intimately ; more comprehensively. Per- 
haps I may know more of her yet. 


240 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


CHAPTER XL 

Sunday before Christmas — Miss Cli-fford and I go to church — Some- 
what personal — Impressions, and imaginations — The Sexton — 
Rector and Bishop — The Bishop's sermon — After service — In 
Miss Clifford’s carriage — Advance, and repulse — Shock and disap 
pointment — Sudden departure from Washington — The end. 

Sunday before Christmas, i88i, was a day to be 
remembered by the inhabitants of the City of Wash- 
ington. It was “perfect” in its appointments of 
temperature, light, and atmospheric purity. It was, 
indeed, a sunny day. Its conditions were appre- 
ciated. The wide, well-paved, thoroughly-policed 
streets were alive with pedestrians, equestrians, and 
all manner of equipages, with here and there a bi- 
cycle, or tricycle, not then generally in use, as they 
have since become. Large numbers of these per- 
sons, and vehicles, were wending their ways to the 
various places of worship, for which that city is 
distinguished. That the people thus “wending” 
were all moved by sense of duty, or obligation, to 
devote themselves, for a time, periodically, to the 
worship of a natural concept of a hypothetic super- 
natural being — either for their own good, or His 
personal gratification — need not be assumed. 
Christian peoples are moved church-ward by the 
force of habit, on the Sabbath day — whether devo- 
tional or otherwise ; especially when the weather is 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


241 


perfect, as it then was In addition to this general 
impulse, there were many persons actuated by dif- 
ferent motives ; some going, humbly, devoutly, ex- 
pecting to be blessed by recognitions of the divine 
presence in the churches ; others, proudly, and 
haughtily, yet with an air of condescension as if 
patronizing the Almighty by their presence in His 
temples. 

Doctor Clifford was not moved by either the 
common or any special impulse, to attend church 
services that morning — which he was usually self- 
sacrificing enough to do, for his sister’s sake — but 
in excusing himself for declining to do so, because 
of a new book that had been sent him by a dear 
friend for examination and criticism, he suggested 
the possibility that I might be pleased to go : as- 
suring me that his sister’s pastor was a man of 
natural ability and sincerity, and much theologic 
erudition. The Doctor’s lady sister — superb in 
every appointment of dress and manner — turned to 
me graciously — her face radiant with consciousness 
of beauty and superiority of character — and ex- 
tended to me a cordial invitation to accompany her: 
assuring me that while contributing to her pleasure, 
I should not, myself, be “ bored.” The fact that 
Doctor Clifford would be engaged, for the morning, 
at least; the loveliness of the day without; my 
newly-conceived notion of possibilities overlooked 
in all former considerations of Christianity, and 
desire to hear a Christian sermon, and see the 


242 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


inside of a Christian church, which I had not done, 
“since before the war,” and — the unaffected loveli- 
ness of the woman then smiling upon me — left no 
room for hesitation. How much more important 
the last factor stated wasjn the problem of accept- 
ance than any other, need not be recalled now; 
nor need I hesitate to confess that this woman had 
acquired, without design or effort, a strong and pe- 
culiar influence over me : an influence that I could 
not then have accounted for rationally : nor that I was 
pleased and flattered by her invitation. What was 
the character of that influence ? — I have often asked 
myself since. It was not the influence of beauty, 
alone. Nor was it even that of beauty associated 
with female charms. Nor was it yet that kind of 
influence which a proud and passionate woman 
exerts over men whom she delights to see at her 
feet, especially if distinguished, suing for recog- 
nition. 

It was not that kind of influence, either, that 
women sometimes exert over men — stimulating, 
intoxicating, violent, and destructive. Neither was 
it that kind of silently-encroaching, gently-persua- 
sive influence, by which elderly men — whose do- 
mestic relations have not always been idealistic 
— are sometimes soothed, flattered, and inveigled 
into unresisting captivity by — burdensome and 
suffocating in the end. It was more like the influ- 
ence of the sun upon the earth in early springtime ; 
stimulating old roots to put forth new blades and 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


243 


buds and flowers ; and inspiring birds, returning 
from winter haunts, to build new nests and sing 
new songs. I felt, indeed, as 1 handed the lady to 
her carriage, that I could not only enter a ‘church 
building with her, cheerfully, but could become in- 
terested in whatever interested her, for the sake of 
being near to and recognized before the world as 
the friend of one so conspicuously admirable. 

No one but myself could know just what that 
state of feeling signified at that time. Born near 
what is now the center of population of the United 
States ; then almost a wilderness ; of parents rich 
only in the blood, virtues, and intelligence of 
New England ancestors ; I had grown to early 
manhood without systematic education of any kind. 
With a constitutionally voracious appetite for 
knowledge, I had devoured many books — such as 
were to be found in the cabins of pioneers ; and 
had acquired a good deal of miscellaneous, but 
useful knowledge from my father, colloquially. As 
for religious training, strictly speaking, I had none 
at home; and that which a child would receive from 
attending Quaker meeting, on “first day” and 
“ fourth day,” from his third to his ninth year, was 
not much. My earliest intelligent observation of 
the external phenomena of religion, as manifested 
at Methodist camp-meetings and Baptist “re- 
vivals” with which I became familiar in my youth 

impressed me as more becoming to savagery, or 

insanity, than to civilization, and sane people. 


244 the CLIFFORDS. 

Of moral instruction ; knowledge of right and 
wrong, according to my mother’s perceptions, well 
whipped in, there was no lack. So long, and 
so profound, indeed, had been my disrespect 
for the outward manifestation of religion — repelled 
rather than attracted by its professors and teachers, 
of all denominations — that, but for the fact of re- 
cent recognitions through which I had come to 
regard religion, itself, as a manifestation of human 
nature common to mankind ; and an effort on my 
own part, more or less active and persistent, to 
find some phase of it adaptable to my own necessi- 
ties — stimulated now by contact with this wonder- 
fully attractive woman — I should still have been 
content with external views of church architecture, 
as I had been before. 

The church edifice which we soon entered, was 
capacious, with some pretension to architectural 
grandeur ; designed, doubtless, to impress one 
with a sense of awe and solemnity, befitting its 
uses as a temple for the indwelling and worship 
of an austere and sublime Deity. 

The congregation assembled was small compared 
with the seating capacity of the house ; and con- 
sisted of an undue proportion of elderly people — 
mostly women. Such men as were present wore 
an expression of submission and waiting rather 
than of hope or aspiration. The sexton was, evi- 
dently, “a relic of by-gone times” — courtly; al- 
most obsequious, in his manner toward Miss 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


245 


Clifford ; with a smile of reflected grace be- 
stowed upon myself. 

Out of place and awkward, as persons of sensi- 
bility are liable to feel when conscious of misplace- 
ment in society, still a long-cultivated habit of ob- 
servation and study of all surrounding objects 
overcame that sense of all eyes having been turned 
and fixed on me alone, and enabled me to make a 
rapid, though comprehensive survey of the situa- 
tion. The cursory glimpse had of half-filled pews, 
taking in the general expression of their occupants, 
suggested the inference that here was the remnant, 
only, of a greatly diminished number ; a proud, but 
impoverished, remainder of a once large and aris- 
tocratic society ; maintaining its dignity and pride 
under — to it — adverse and humiliating circum- 
stances. 

Structurally — including dress and pose — the 
people around me were in harmony with the in- 
terior of the church, architecturally considered ; 
being tall and angular ; with facial lines indicative 
of personal pride, stubbornness of opinion, and se- 
verity of feeling under provocation — characteristic 
of a people whose pretensions to superiority are 
based upon other foundations than that of natural 
capability, and broadening culture. 

Familiar as I was with the sociologic history of 
our. country for the past thirty years — including the 
civil war, and consequent abolition of slavery — by 
the exercise of memory and imagination, I rapidly 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


246 

reconstructed the history of the people with whom 
I was surrounded : beginning with the exciting 
times of 1860-61 — when the then numerous, 
wealthy and haughty members of this society had 
conspired — secretly or^openly — to dismember the 
then existing union of states, with a view to form- 
ing a confederacy of slave-holding states; and had 
staked not only their pride, but their property, 
upon the issue. 

Having failed in this attempt — disastrously to 
themselves — as I construed appearances — they had 
not ceased to regret defeat ; nor had they as yet 
been able to readjust themselves to environments 
under a new regime of Washington society. I had 
not fairly summarized observations, however, when 
the rector, preceded by a bishop, appeared, 
and the outward manifestations of worship were 
promptly begun. These two men — the rec- 
tor and the bishop — interested me at once, and 
greatly. Not only as representatives of a pro- 
fession toward which I had long entertained feel- 
ings of unreasonable aversion, did they interest 
me ; but because of the widely-contrasting ethnic 
peculiarities of the two men. The rector was of 
medium height, but being well-proportioned and 
erect, did not impress one as diminutive, in the 
least. His full, round cranium valanced with pure- 
white hair, domed a face expressive of intelligence, 
energy, will, and loyalty to whatever his convic- 
tions might be. His voice was slightly tremu- 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


247 

lous, and professional in tone ; though ’he 
read admirably, both poetry and prose. He had 
grown old, obviously, with those around him ; sym- 
pathizing with them closely, in all their aspirations 
and disappointments. The bishop was a man of 
imposing presence. Strong, firm, elastic, he stood 
six feet and over in height ; and bore, as yet, no 
evidence of any infirmity of age. His head was of 
the historic mold ; and his face was so expressive 
of intelligence and power — no anthropologist would 
have passed him by without turning to look upon 
him again, and again, with admiration. The 
bishop preached the sermon. His discourse was 
brief, but to me, ever memorable. His personal- 
ity, his manner, his voice — sympathetic, yet full- 
toned, manly, without a suggestion of priestliness — 
disarmed me at once of all prejudice. I liked the 
man ! As he proceeded in his discourse I lost all 
consciousness of surroundings ; even of the won- 
derful woman by whose side I had been, sitting, 
rising, bowing, kne — no, not kneeling — for the last 
half-hour; now spell-bound as by the presence of 
an enchanter. His diction was simple, direct, con- 
densed. His rhetoric was spontaneous — without 
artifice. He said (I know how impoverished must 
be my report): “We are living in an age of in- 
tellectual development, of profound research, and 
unsparing criticism. Great errors, of long stand- 
ing, are being discovered and corrected, in every 
department of human knowledge. And there are 


248 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


those — poor souls — who, ignorantly faithful, seem 
to fear that the foundations of their faith are 
threatened by an invasion of learning ; and that 
truth, when stripped of all disguises, may prove 
disappointing to human hopes, and disastrous to 
human happiness ! That good will be banished 
from among men, or perish of its own weakness ; 
and evil, triumphant, will revel in excess of its own 
energy! If there be such among you, my friends : 
I have come to assure you that your fears are idle ; 
that your apprehensions — born of ignoralice — are 
groundless! Think you that the world has been 
abandoned by the eternal influences that ‘ make 
for righteousness,’ and work together for good? 
Know you not that the foundation of your faith 
rests not upon this, or that, scriptural text; this or 
that saying of the fathers, or edict of whatever 
body of men ; but upon conditions of human con- 
sciousness as broad, as deep, and as enduring as 
consciousness itself? The central truth ; the life- 
giving principle, of Christianity, was never before 
so well and generally recognized as it is now. 
There is no longer occasion for Christian apolo- 
getics. Christianity, as it now stands before the 
tribunal of human intelligence, is its own excuse 
for being, and its own defense ! What though 
science should succeed in discovering some inaccu- 
racies of scriptures of great antiquity, that have 
passed through numberless transcriptions, and 
translations from one language into another — or in 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


249 


convincing many intelligent persons that the 
Mosaic account of creation is but a cosmogonic 
myth representing human ideas of a hypothetical 
event ; or that man, instead of descending from a 
single, miraculously created, ancestor, began ex- 
istence as living germs, in common with all living 
beings — differentiated by growth influenced by en- 
vironments — undergoing modifications of structure 
by adaptation to uses, through periods of, no matter 
what, duration — as consistent with the idea of 
design as any other theory ; still, although im- 
proving with every forward step in the grand pro- 
cession, the great and all-important fact remains 
conspicuous — -seen by every competent observer — 
that man is at best an imperfect being, conscious 
of his own limitations and infirmities! That what- 
ever he may have been ‘in the beginning,’ or at 
any time thereafter, he is now ‘ a living soul,’ as- 
piring toward higher and better conditions, unat- 
tainable upon planes of development thus far 
reached, by unaided effort. To which aspirations, 
constituting human needs, as is now apparent to 
the more intelligent, Christianity is the natural and 
inevitable response; against which neither science, 
nor atheism, nor any form of denial will, or can, 
prevail. Though the testimony of miracles be re- 
jected as unworthy of confidence ; as the false per- 
ceptions of ignorance and credulity ; and the evi- 
dence of events foretold by inspiration be im- 
peached as ambiguous, irrelevant, or false : still. 


250 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


Christianity, standing on this foundation of human 
needs^ — responsive and sufficient — vindicates by its 
presence, without reference to historic facts, its 
claim to supremacy as the rescuer and sustainer of 
enlightened humanity.,^ in its struggle for deliver- 
ence from selfishness, and sin ; and its efforts to 
escape from servitude to lust, the dishonesties of 
life, and the despair of death! It was because of 
the responsiveness of Christianity to such necessi- 
ties that it became a power on earth. It was be- 
cause of this responsiveness that — beginning with 
the then foremost people of the age, who had ex- 
hausted the helpfulness of Pagan .gods, by growth 
of their own capability — that Christianity has ex- 
tended to, and assisted, all mankind capable of 
comprehending its significance and power. That 
men were not without assistance, corresponding to 
their needs — called by whatever name — before the 
advent of Christianity, does not detract from this 
affirmation. To affirm the contrary, would, indeed, 
impeach the wisdom, goodness, and impartiality of 
the Providence that is over and around us all, ever 
and forever! Zoroaster, Buddha, Confucius, Soc- 
rates, were not without appointment — giving light 
in their respective ways, and days. Moses was 
luminous ; Isaiah was brilliant ; but in the broad 
sunshine of Christianity their lights pale and flicker 
with unstable radiance. It is by this light that men 
are being led in ways of righteousness, and paths 
of peace. It is by this light that men behold 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


251 


through mists and clouds the wisdom and goodness 
of a Divine Providence, immanent and eternal, in 
the universe; and Jesus of Nazareth as an exem- 
plification of human possibilities — an incarnation of 
elements divine ! It is by this light that the king- 
dom of heaven is established within whoever admits 
it to his soul, and incorporates it as an element of 
life!” 

He said more, much more, along the same line 
of thought; to me a revelation and surprise! Not 
a word about the “fall of man,” nor the “plan of 
salvation.” Not a word about God’s anger, or his 
mercy ! Nothing at which the philosophical could 
cavil! “ If this is religion,” I said in my thought, 
“ I have lived long in ignorance of its true charac- 
ter. If this is Christianity, I am almost persuaded 
to be a Christian. I must think this matter over. 
It is worthy of consideration. May not Science and 
Religion meet on common grounds, after all ! I 
wonder what Miss Clifford thought of the bishop’s 
sermon.” It seems that, in my interested specula- 
tion, excited by what I heard, she had not been 
forgotten altogether. 

As I followed my lady friend out of the church, 
and handed her to the carriage, she did- not appear 
to me — in movement or expression — just like her- 
self. Her change of manner was but slight, how- 
ever, if noticeable at all by one not peculiarly sen- 
sitive to her personality at the time. In her car- 
riage — after a few casual remarks by which I felt 


252 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


restored to a footing of friendly intimacy — an im- 
pulse moved me then and there to unveil my life 
and soul to her — all that I had been, was then, and 
would like to become, if possible: asking her at 
the same time for sympathy, and assistance. Still 
full of admiration of the bishop, and inspired by 
new-born hope — or recognition of possibilities some- 
times before dreamed of — curiously enough I be- 
gan — as I should not have done without more knowl- 
edge of the ground upon which I stood — by ex- 
pressing great pleasure derived from the sermon 
we had heard, and said: “ Do you know that I have 
been thinking : if your bishop presented Chris- 
tianity in its true light, that I can see no good rea- 
son why I should not become a Christian?” It 
was a great mistake. I was not left long in igno- 
rance of my error. Instead of sympathy, and en- 
couragement, as anticipated, there came a shock 
from which I may not yet have fully recovered. 
The lady’s hand that had by accident lain in touch 
with mine upon the cushioned seat was instantly 
withdrawn — almost spasmodically. Her whole per- 
son seemed to become rigid for a moment, with her 
lips firmly closed. But, having recovered self- 
possession soon, she said, in a tone of voice almost 
strident: “ Better remain as you are than become 
such a Christian ! Had I known Bishop Overton 
would preach to-day, I should not have invited you 
to go with me to church ; should not have gone 
myself.” I was, for a moment, speechless, but 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


253 


soon rallied sufficiently to say : “ Does not your 
pastor agree with his bishop in matters theolog- 
ical? ” “ I trust not ! ” said Miss Clifford, with an 

air indicative of a wide difference of opinion be- 
tween the major and the minor church official. 
“ Our clergy, as a rule,” she continued, “are faith- 
ful to their duties, unquestioning in their belief, 
true to the church, and loyal to the Lord. I wish 
they were all so ! ” 

“What is the matter with the bishop?” I found 
courage to ask, after a little reflection. 

“ He is a false prophet! A heretic ! A wolf in 
sheep’s clothing! A misleader of men!” 

Miss Clifford looked out of the carriage window 
on our right, and made no further comment. I 
looked out of the window on our left, and asked 
no further questions. Humiliated and disap- 
pointed, I felt that a crisis had been reached in my 
relation to this woman — from which, how much or 
how little had been anticipated, would be difficult of 
estimation. The carriage rolled on, and on ; it 
seemed to me interminably. At length, unexpect- 
edly, Miss Clifford, still looking out of the window, 
said : “ Nothing could give me more pleasure than 
to have you become a true Christian. I believe, 
that, some time, you will. I shall not cease to 
pray that you may. But much as I may have be- 
come interested in your — the welfare of your im- 
mortal soul — I had rather think of you as wander- 
ing still in nature’s darkness, than as following the 


254 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


delusive light of such a leader as you seem to have 
become infatuated with to-day. The future life of 
an uninstructed heathen — although an idolator, and 
cannibal — is more hopeful than that of a bishop — 
however eminent as a man of intellect and learning 
— who reads his Bible in the reflected light of 
science, instead of the direct rays of inspiration ; 
and worships at the shrine of humanity, instead of 
the altar of the only true and living God ! Bishop 
Overton is not more Christian in his belief than my 
brother is ; and not half so true a man ! Were he 
as honest, indeed, he would cease to perform the 
functions of a bishop, and purify the church by 
withdrawing from it ! When a clergyman of any 
grade ceases to believe in the plenary inspiration, 
and inerrancy of the sacred. Scriptures, or the di- 
vinity of Christ ; a simple sense of self respect, 
one would think, should compel a severance of 
relation to the church, and silence, if nothing 
more.” 

“Why does the church not purify itself by 
silencing the Bishop?” I asked, rather timidly, but 
— as I know now — not without a shade of resent- 
ment in the question. 

“ Because — I- confess it with humiliation — ” said 
Miss Clifford, “too many of our bishops are being 
poisoned from the same chalice, and can not be ex- 
pected to condemn each other. Were he a Roman 
bishop, he would soon be silenced, and sent into 
obscurity !” 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


255 


Having said so much, Miss Clifford drew a vail 
over her face, as if to conceal an intensity of feel- 
ing that had found its way, unbidden, to the sur- 
face. 

How long we should have maintained an attitude 
of mutual silence, I can not tell; had not the car- 
riage door opened, finally, and Doctor Clifford ap- 
peared on the curb, near the hotel, to lift his 
lady-sister out, and escort her, smilingly, to their 
rooms. ... In my own room again, I sank 
into an upholstered chair, without uncovering; drew 
closer the mantle of self about myself; and like a 
tortoise withdrawn into its shell, . . . medi- 

tated. 

“My friend was right” — I said in meditation — 
“My friend was right. I must remain a skeptic, 
or advance into mysticism. It is useless to think 
of going back to even idealistic realism ; which 
peoples the invisible with multitudes of unseen, 
yet material beings ; men and monsters ; big and 
little ; — treating the visible universe — all that we 
call natural — includiug our human bodies — as mat- 
ters of trivial, or secondary, consideration ; mere 
incidents of supernatural creative activity; experi- 
mental and imperfect ; requiring supplementary 
‘ plans and specifications ’ for completion : . . . 

No, I can not! I must stand still, or go forward. 
Forward ! From what, to what ? From what, I 
know : To what ? is another question. Mysticism ? 
What may that be ? 


256 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


“Evidently the universe, being infinite, is one; 
embracing in itself, harmoniously, every thing that 
is. Natural, and supernatural; or spiritual, and 
material ; are but different phases of the same 
general appearance. Even that which we call 
‘ spirit ’ — constituting so important a part of our- 
selves — that which, as a quality of matter, enables 
brains to think ; may be only a more attenuate, 
and complex, form of matter, in continuity and 
harmony with simpler and coarser forms. Capa- 
ble, . . . perhaps, . . . ‘ah, there’s the 
rub!’ 

“We seek unconsciousness in sleep, gladly; 
knowing from experience, and confidence in the 
uniformity of nature’s proceedings under given 
conditions, that we shall recover consciousness by 
awaking from sleep. We shrink, in fear, from the 
unconsciousness of death — whatever may be our 
‘ confession of faith ’ respecting immortality — be- 
cause personal experience, and the uniform pro- 
ceeding of nature— so far as we can ascertain the 
facts respecting it — do not give us much assurance 
of recovery. . . . The bishop said that Chris- 

tianity was its own excuse for being, and its own 
defense — because it was nature’s response to hu- 
man needs. Miss Clifford resented the affirmation 
as profane! What other demand of human con- 
sciousness does Christianity respond to than its 
clamor for assurances of immortality ; that might 


THE CLIFFORDS. 


257 


not be met as well otherwise? Can the assurance 
of its assertions be more trustworthy than the tes- 
timony upon which they are based ? Such assur- 
ance has, undoubtedly, stayed and comforted mill- 
ions of human beings through dark passages of 
life. But skepticism requires more and better evi- 
dence of immortality than Christianity has as yet 
presented to thinking men. The multitudes of 
unthinking men are convinced by any kind of testi- 
mony that harmonizes with their preconceived no- 
tions, feelings, or desires, on any given subject. 
Ten disciples were convinced of Christ’s identity 
by superficial appearances. Thomas required more 
palpable and satisfactory proof. Miss Clifford’s 
views of Christianity are evidently . . .” Fur- 

ther meditation was interrupted by a messenger 
boy with a telegram requiring my immediate de- 
parture from Washington. I sought, hastily, to 
bid my friends adieu; but found them “out.” Nor 
did I regret the circumstance. I am not yet a 
mystic. I still dream strange dreams ; and some- 
times wonder if Miss Clifford ever thinks of me ; 
or ever realized how near I came to offering myself 
to her that Sunday before Christmas, 1881, on our 
way from church, when so effectually repulsed 
because of my admiration of Bishop Overton’s 
sermon. I still think of her. 


THE END. 






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